


Light and darkness

by Fantasticoncer



Series: Devils and vampires [1]
Category: Castlevania (Cartoon)
Genre: Adventure & Romance, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst with a Happy Ending, Developing Friendships, Developing Relationship, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Eventual Romance, F/M, Falling In Love, Families of Choice, Family Feels, Female Friendship, Fluff and Angst, Friends to Lovers, Happy Ending, Human/Vampire Relationship, Hurt/Comfort, Identity Reveal, Late Night Conversations, Love Confessions, Male-Female Friendship, Second Chances, Secret Identity, Secrets, Swearing, Team as Family
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-15
Updated: 2021-03-09
Packaged: 2021-03-10 02:01:14
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 19
Words: 37,615
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27566419
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fantasticoncer/pseuds/Fantasticoncer
Summary: Even before meeting Sylpha and Alucard, Trevor wasn't travelling alone. A woman named Lucy was travelling with him through these terrible times.When he gets pulled into something much bigger than he's used to, she goes along with him and while monsters are fought, bonds are forged and secrets are revealed, the both of them might just find something they never thought they would have: love
Relationships: Alucard | Adrian Tepes | Arikado Genya & Trevor Belmont & Sypha Belnades, Alucard | Adrian Tepes | Arikado Genya/Original Female Character(s), Trevor Belmont & Original Character(s), Trevor Belmont/Sypha Belnades
Series: Devils and vampires [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2106567
Comments: 242
Kudos: 38





	1. The beginning

Disclaimer: I don't own anything that you recognise.

These were shitty times. 

That's what Lucy Mane decided when she saw her companion and only friend, Trevor Belmont, tip back his umpteenth goblet of ale as they spent the evening in a pub. How he was still conscious was a question even she couldn't answer. Just then, someone ran in with the news that Dracula's forces were coming this way and one of the men blamed it all on the big and powerful families, naming the Belmont family the worst of them all.

Lucy looked at Trevor at hearing that and saw him hiding his face at hearing this. She honestly wondered how the men at the bar would react if they knew the last member of the Belmont family was sitting right there, but had the feeling it wouldn't be pretty at hearing the vile words coming out of their mouths. "You came from shit. I came from shit. We all came from shit. We just work for a living every day of our lives. We just keep those bastards in food and wool. Slaves! That's what we are." The first man ranted

Her feelings were proven correct as Trevor went to the bar during the man's rant and asked for yet another ale. Accidentally exposing the family crest on his shirt as he searched for money, he was accosted by the men at the bar as they recognised it as the Belmont family crest. "And you! You came in here with this asshole! I bet you're a fucking Belmont too." Man 1 said, pointing at Lucy. 

"Actually, he's nothing more than an acquaintance. My last name is Mane." Lucy said causally, reading an old book that she had carefully kept through the years. Trevor tried to leave, but the men stopped him and started to beat him up until he confessed his true identity. "Lucy, a little help here?" He asked through the pain of getting kicked between the legs twice and Lucy sighed. "Fine." She said as she stood up. 

Just a minute later, a completely okay Lucy and a rather beaten Trevor walked out. "I hope you all bleed out through your arses!" Trevor shouted, before he and his companion walked away. "Thanks for the help." He muttered sarcastically. "I thought rule number 1 was that I wasn't to help you in a bar fight." She said in fake innocence and he glared at her. "One-on-one not, but this was three against one, so I would've appreciated more support in this matter." Trevor muttered and she held up her hands in surrender.

"Duly noted, but this is what.... the eighty-fifth amendment of the rules?" She asked and he glared at her again." I'm not in the mood right now, Lucy." He said as they found a tree to sleep under and they made their beds after pissing several feet away. "If you snore again, Trevor, I'll strangle you with your own whip." She said and he glared again, before falling asleep almost immediately. Lucy stayed awake for a while, keeping watch.

At sunrise, Lucy woke a hungover Trevor and they went on. They came across the city Gresit, where Dracula's forces were just leaving if the monsters running away, one carrying a dead baby in its jaws and the screams coming from inside the town were anything to go by. "Bloody Gresit. Last stop between us and starvation. The next town's 40 bloody miles away." Trevor said. 

"Not very far." Lucy said with a smug smirk. "Not for you." He muttered in return, before sighing. "Here we go." He said as they walked towards the city. Arriving at the gate, they saw it was blocked. Figuring out another way to get into the city, they arrived at the end of the city's sewer. Trevor briefly looked at Lucy, but she shook her head. "I know your rules, you know mine. I'm not your fucking pack-mule and never in broad daylight." She said. "Ugh. Fine, fine." He conceded, before they climbed into the disgusting sewer pipe.

Arriving in the city, they saw men throwing dead people on a pile underneath a bridge. "How quaint." Lucy muttered sarcastically, her nose wrinkled in disgust. "Almost makes you want to go down south again, don't it?" Trevor asked with a smirk and this time, it was her turn to glare at him. "I'll never go back there and you know it." She hissed and he chuckled at having gotten a rise out of her. 

Managing to get a small piece of meat, Trevor broke it in two and gave one piece to Lucy, who just looked at him with a raised eyebrow. "Come on." He said and she took it, breaking it in more pieces and giving the biggest piece to him and refusing to take it back. Still, something about what the butcher had said intrigued the man and he went around asking about the city's defences.

Some people believed the tribe of Speakers would protect them, while others thought they were the cause of the trouble. One man came with an interesting story. "There's an old story, The Sleeping Soldier." The man said and Lucy leaned forwards, something about it intriguing her. "What's that story?" She asked. "Well, they say he was a great hero hundreds of years ago, but now he sleep under the catacombs." The man said. "Hmm, for what?" Trevor asked. "Until he's needed again, of course." The man said. 

"Really?" Lucy asked. "Oh, yes, but keep it quiet. The new bishop hates the old wisdom. Dracula's monsters come at night, but the bishop's men come in the middle of the day. You know what I mean?" He asked. "Your secret is safe with us, sir." Lucy said with a wink. "Thank you Ms. I have to say: you're lucky to have such a strong husband to protect you." He said. 

"Oh! We're not married." A blushing Lucy and Trevor said at the same time and the man laughed. "No, i didn't think you were with the way you behaved until you came to my stall, but can a man have a bit of a joke in these dark times?" He asked. Lucy gave him a tiny smile, but Trevor walked out without another word. Thanking the man, Lucy followed him.

"What a fucking bullshit. Do we look married to you?" Trevor asked grumpily as they walked away from the man. "He was just joking around, Trevor. Let him have his fun." Lucy said. Trevor just grunted in answer and continued on walking, muttering furiously underneath his breath. "You know I can hear you right?" Lucy asked from right next to him and he shut up at that, but not before throwing her another glare. They talked to another man on the marketplace, who had a whole different opinion about the situation.

"You know what I think? I think the Speakers make the Sleeping Soldier ill. We have no defenses, so of course Dracula's bastards come over the wall every night. The bishop will sort things out. This city has, not to put too fine a point on it, gone to hell. If the others will just do as he says when he tells us to do it, then all will be in order." He said in a determined tone. 

Lucy raised an eyebrow at that. She had long since learned that the church was not what it was supposed to be. Even her father knew it. But seeing the rather dark look in his eyes, she decided not to speak up. It would just result in unnecessary bloodshed and she didn't feel like that at the moment. Walking into an alley, Trevor and Lucy didn't know that their lives were about to be changed... forever

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really shouldn't start another story, but here we go. 
> 
> A rather small chapter, but oh well. 
> 
> Read and review. See you next time


	2. Speakers

Disclaimer: I don't own anything that you recognise

It all started with an old man. 

Lucy and Trevor were walking through the alley when they came across two priests "escorting" an old man. Walking past them, they heard one of the priests starting to threaten the old man. "I warned you. You can't say I didn't warn you." Priest 1 said, getting out a weapon. "You did not listen to me, sir." The old man said. "Are you talking back at me?" Priest 1 asked loudly.

Lucy immediately rolled her eyes as she and Trevor stayed standing at the opening of the alley. She really hated people like this, so completely desperate for a fight that they'll take literally anything for a reason to attack. Rather pathetic really. She heard her companion try to convince himself to keep walking, but didn't do it. She could see that with every word that came out of the priest's mouth, the urge to teach him a lesson grew. Walking further into the alley and leaning on the wall, she raised an eyebrow at the next words.

"I work within the light of God himself and you can see this i can't because of your magic?" Priest 1 scoffed after the old man said that a group of people named Speakers weren't responsible for the things happening and that they were trying to help. Lucy looked the man up-and-down. It seemed highly unlikely that God would love a man like him. Priest 1 was about to kill the man, when Lucy and Trevor shared a look and silent conversation.

Trevor sighed and nodded in answer to her silent question. About a second later, there was a cry of pain as the man's hand was completely cut off. The two priests looked up in shock at the one responsible. "Oh, hell. Sorry about that. I just wanted to knock the stave away. How's your hand?" Lucy asked as she stood right behind them, having moved forwards very fast and casually holding a very sharp sword. 

"What fucking hand?!" Priest 1 shouted. "That's no way for a man of the cloth to talk. Don't you know that God hates pottymouths?" Lucy asked as Trevor joined her. "Why don't you go get that looked at before you bleed out?" He suggested. Instead, Priest 1 ordered Priest 2 to attack them both. "Look. I don't like priests. I mean, I honestly despise them with every fiber of my being, but I'll give you one last chance to leave and we'll say no more of it." Lucy suggested. "Kill them now!" Priest 1 screamed and Lucy sighed. 

"Want to take this one?" She asked Trevor calmly. "Sure." He said as Priest 2 suddenly pulled a blade out. "That's an odd thing for a Priest to be carrying." Lucy commented as she stepped back. "That's a thief's knife." Her companion agreed as the bald man rushed at him. "Seriously? I'm out of practice, but I'm stone-cold sober. Someone will get hurt." Trevor said as he got ready. 

Between him and his whip and Lucy and her sword, it really wasn't a fair battle. Trevor whipped out the man's eye and told Priest 1 to leave and not to bother the old man again. As they left, the man finally approached them. "The violence really wasn't necessary, sir, my lady. But, it is appreciated." He said and even Lucy grinned at him. The man introduced himself as the elder of a group of speakers. 

"Thank you for your kindness and I think, your restraint." He said with a grin and they chuckled. "Although I have to say that I have never seen someone move as fast as you did, Ms." He said. "Trade secret, I'm afraid." Lucy said and they laughed at that Escorting the man to where the speakers had settled to be safe, Trevor asked with how many they were. "Eleven, though I insist we're with twelve. One of us is missing, you see?" The Elder said, before they already arrived at their destination. "Shortest walk ever." Lucy commented. 

Walking in, they were greeted by the other Speakers and Lucy honestly had to admire the old man's pure-hearted bravery as he had gone outside despite the danger to help the people of the city, even though some were blaming them for the things happening around them. "Are you alright?" A young man asked after the Elder talked about confrontation by the two priests.

"I am, thanks to this man and lady." Although I fear there may be trouble ahead because of it The Elder said, turning to Trevor and Lucy with a smile and the latter gave them a sheepish wave in return. "What did you do?" The younger Speaker asked. "We're both out of practice. They're still alive, unfortunately." Lucy muttered with her arms crossed and Trevor agreed. "You used violence on them?" The younger Speaker hissed and Lucy glared at him.

"Your precious Elder is still alive, isn't he? What were we supposed to do? Nag the priests until they let him go?" She retorted until the Elder interrupted. "The younger people believe words can speak louder than actions." He explained gently. "Haven't seen that happening in a very long time." Lucy commented. "You're Speakers. Words is what you do." Trevor said. The younger speaker was surprised that he knew of them and Trevor explained his family had always been on good terms with Speakers

Although apparently, his father once got into a fight with one about their traditions."Yes, we are quite protective of our traditions." The Elder agreed, before asking if they wanted something to eat. "I'll have something to drink." Trevor said, before backtracking at realising he'd just get water and not beer. "You're hopeless." Lucy commented with a roll of her eyes. 

Ignoring her as always when she made a comment about his drinking, Trevor asked why the group was here as Speakers usually moved from place to place and they had been here long enough for the people to start blaming them for everything. The younger Speaker, Arn, said that it was the church's fault. "They need something to blame." He said and Lucy immediately scoffed rather loudly at those words.

She knew all too well what that was like. "To divert people from the truth, that the church itself brought Dracula's hordes down on the land." The Elder said solemnly. "How on earth did they do that?" Lucy asked in genuine surprise and curiosity. She had heard several rumours, but she had traveled with Trevor for a few years now and hadn't been in the capital for a long time."There were Speakers in Targoviste a year ago. They burned Dracula's wife at the stake as a witch." The Elder explained. "Shit." Trevor muttered.

"That's one way of putting it." The Elder agreed, before getting distracted by snorts. In the corner, Lucy was desperately trying to contain her laughs at hearing that news. "Oh, I bet dear old dad must be so ashamed of that." She managed to bring out between snorts."Your father is a Christian?" Arn asked. "A very big one, yes. I didn't agree with his views and got kicked out the house." Lucy said.

"I'm sorry that happened to you." The Elder said sincerely and Lucy shrugged casually. "It's been a very long time since then. I'm over it." She said, although Trevor noticed the grip she had on the hilt of her sword was tightening with every word and quickly continued. Reminding the Elder that he hadn't answered his question, the old man sat down on a chair.

"There's no structure left in Gresit. No doctors, no aid. If you know Speakers, then you know we can't turn away from those in need. That's why we are here." He said, before Arn said he should tell Trevor and Lucy the rest and he immediately sighed deeply. "In Speaker history, there's an old story. A legend, probably." He said. "I like stories." Trevor said. "It depends on the ending for me." Lucy said. "The stories say a savior sleeps under Gresit, a great hero who sleeps until he's needed, until there's a darkness upon the land." The Elder said solemnly.

"The Archangel Michael?" Lucy guessed and the Elder chuckled. "No, I don't think it's him. The story says that there's no one like him" He said. "Oh, I heard this story. The Sleeping Soldier. It's a local legend. Sounds weirdly convenient to me, if you know what I mean." Trevor commented, one of the people on the market having told the story already and Lucy rolled her eyes again. 

"Exactly how much do you know about this, sir?" The Elder asked. Trevor finally explained who he was and how much he knew about them. "A Belmont? I thought your family had vanished. Are you a Belmont too?" Arn asked. "Nope. I'm Lucy Stella Mane." She said with a dramatic bow. "Mane? I've never heard of that name before." The Elder commented.

"I'd be very surprised if you had. It's a name i fashioned for myself after I was kicked out." Lucy explained. "Interesting." The Elder said, looking her up-and-down "By the way, if by vanished, you mean exiled, hated and burned out of their family home, then...." Trevor started to say, before looking down, feeling Lucy subtly touch his back in support. They both knew what it was like after all. Trevor and the Elder talked for a while longer, before the latter explained that their missing member had tried to go and look for the Sleeping Soldier

He told the man and woman where they had gone to and that searches for them had been completely unsuccessful. After Trevor mentioned that he and Lucy were planning to leave soon after eating and drinking something and without caring about the people at all as the church had killed the only people capable of stopping this, the Elder finally conceded and said they were staying.

"Don't be crazy." Lucy said, unable to believe her ears. They had the chance to get away and they didn't take it? Arn finally told them the missing speaker was actually the Elder's grandchild. Sharing a look with Lucy, Trevor offered to get the grandchild's body if that's what it took for them to leave. The Elder agreed and Lucy and Trevor left after that, off into a new adventure far bigger than they would ever dream off 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Read and review. See you next time


	3. A Cyclops and a female Speaker

Disclaimer: I don't own anything that you recognise

_How does this keep happening to me?'_

That's what Lucy thought as she and Trevor dodged another literally petrifying beam from an actual cyclops. They had gone to where the missing Speaker had gone to and had found a small, hidden entrance in the wall. "You think you can fit through there?" Trevor had asked teasingly, before jumping in and sliding down. She had glared at him and followed, hissing as the rough stone scraped several places. 

Quickly landing in what seemed to be a dark and abandoned hallway, Trevor had noticed that all the torches hanging on the walls had fresh oil on them. Lucy, could you-" He had started, only to turn and see that she was one step ahead of him, a tiny flame dancing above her index finger. "Thanks." He had muttered as she lit the torch. Noticing a pipe and knocking on it, he had flinched back. "It's warm. That's odd." He had noted, before they had heard a sound further down. Immediately pulling their weapons, they had carefully gone on.

"We can hear you. We're armed and a lot less happy than you are, so you should stay well out of our way." Trevor had said loudly as they went down a flight of stairs. The second he had put foot on the floor beneath the stairs, it had collapsed underneath him. He had fallen down and managed to land on his feet. "Ha! Reflexes like a cat." He smirked, only for that floor to collapse as well and him falling again. 

"Are you alright?" Lucy had asked quietly as she gracefully landed right next to where he had fallen and he had glared at her from where he was lying on his back. "I'll live." He had muttered sarcastically as he got up with her help and they had looked around the enormous room they had found themselves in. "What is this place?" Lucy had asked, not liking this at all.

"I don't know." Trevor had confessed, before noticing laterns lighting themselves up, revealing a beheaded stone statue and a statue of a cloaked figure standing in the middle of the room. "Well, this isn't creepy at all." Lucy had commented as they approached the statue. "Here we go. One Speaker grandchild found. Although , how are we going to get them- LOOK OUT!!!" She had suddenly shouted as she had turned around and seen the threat. She had pulled Trevor out of the way of the first beam, resulting in their current situation. 

"Stone-eye cyclops. Right out of the family's bestiary. God shits in my dinner again." Trevor breathed in shock at having recognised the monster as they hid behind a pillar. "Are you surprised? You're with me." Lucy said sarcastically, only for them to have to flee another beam. Glancing around the second pillar, the cyclops suddenly grabbed Trevor's head and threw him through the sky. 

Angered at seeing her only friend in danger, Lucy slid between the legs of the cyclops and cut into its skin, distracting it from Trevor. It worked as the cyclops now focused on her, giving Trevor time to get up. He threw his short sword into the chest of the cyclops, but it didn't work. "Come on. Come on! You're dead! Stop and notice you're dead!" He shouted as the cyclops now focused on him again. 

Barely managing to dodge another beam and having to knock stone off his cape, he tried something else. "Lucy, try stabbing the eye!" He shouted. "But of course, sir. Anything else you'd like, sir?" Lucy muttered sarcastically as she got ready. Taking a leap and using the statue as jumping off point, she jumped in the air, whistled loudly to get the monster's attention and threw her sword at it. Her aim was almost always prefect and this time was no exception as her blade buried itself in its eye, finally killing it. "There. It's gone." She muttered as she landed.

Trevor noticed the cloaked statue about to fall from the impact of the cyclops falling. He caught it as the petrifying spell was released. The hood fell off, revealing that the figure was a short-haired woman. She immediately pulled herself out of his arms and threw up. "Ah. Granddaughter then." Trevor commented "Really? It's a woman?" Lucy asked, before pulling her sword out of the eye, blood dripping from it. "Ew."

"I really wish Speakers wouldn't do that." Trevor muttered to himself, giving her the edge of his cape to clean her sword on. "What?" The woman asked. "Dress girls like boys." He elaborated. "It's safer when we travel. What happened?" The woman asked, a foreign accent very clear in her voice like her grandfather. "You walked into a cyclops." Trevor started to explain.

"It turns you into stone with its eyeball and then feeds off your terror as you're trapped in your own body." He continued as Lucy immediately looked down at it in disgust. "Did.... did either of you climb on me?" The woman asked in shock, having noticed that too. "She did." Trevor said, pointing at Lucy and earning himself a glare. "That was rude." The woman commented and Lucy turned her glare at her. "We were trying to kill the cyclops, alright? You were just a good jumping off point." She said. "Who are you?" The woman asked.

"We met your grandfather. He wouldn't leave the city without your body. We came down to recover your remains so the Speakers would go to safety." Trevor explained. "But the Sleeping Warrior is still down here." The woman commented. "There's no Sleeping Warrior. Just a cyclops waiting for people stupid enough to come looking. It's a trap for gullible Speakers, right Lucy? Lucy?" Trevor asked when she didn't answer.

Lucy was staring at the back wall, feeling like something was calling her. She felt a very faint pull in her chest as it tried to make her go somewhere further, but she didn't know where or what it was that was calling her. She jumped at hearing Trevor pretty much shout her name. "There you are. You were miles away." He said at seeing her back with them.

"Sorry. Was lost in thought." She muttered sheepishly, rubbing her chest. Trevor noticed, but didn't say anything for now. "Anyway, you're not very popular around here." He said to the woman. "The old wisdom says the tomb is guarded..." The woman started, before Trevor interrupted her. "Yeah, yeah. Come on. Time to go home. The people think you're dead. The least you can do is put your grandfather's mind to rest." He said, before walking away. "He thinks I'm dead." Sypha asked as she followed him.

"He wasn't much wrong. Killing a cyclops is the only way to restore its victims. Didn't think I'd manage it and I and I wouldn't have if not for Lucy. Lucy?" He suddenly asked at noticing him and the woman were alone. Lucy was still standing next to the dead cyclops, looking at the wall again. "Lucy!" Trevor called loudly, making her jump. "Coming!" She called back, before running after them

"Who are you? Both of you?" The woman asked. "Trevor Belmont and this is my friend Lucy Mane." Trevor said seriously. "But the Belmonts fight monsters and I've never heard of the name "Mane" before." The woman commented. "I'm out of practice." "I made my name up." Trevor and Lucy defended themselves at the same time, before looking at each other."I don't know. You were rather in practice when you met me and attacked me." Lucy commented.

"That was five years ago. You've been helping me since then." Trevor countered. The woman eventually introduced herself as Sypha Belnades. "I don't care." Trevor muttered, before grunting as Lucy cuffed him on the back of his head. "Be nice, would you." She said with a glare as they found their way out of the tombs and missed the corpses being released from the spell. Entering the cottage and watching Sypha reunite with her grandfather, both Lucy and Trevor looked away. They knew that neither of them would ever have a reunion like this.

The Elder thanked them and they nodded. At hearing them talk about the Sleeping Soldier again, Trevor said that it was probably a booby-trapped legend. "I bet that someone is wriggling in his coffin with pleasure at the thought of people walking into the cyclops he left there." He said Sypha countered that there could be something important down there, before Lucy tuned them out, thinking out the weird sensation she'd felt. She'd never felt anything like that before.

She snapped out of her thoughts when Trevor started to leave, despite the Elder inviting them to stay as he owed them. "We'll come back later to escort you out of here. Come on Lucy. Let's see if we can find some beer." Trevor said, before they left. "I could pee in a bucket and tell him it's beer." Sypha commented. "Sypha, they saved your life." Her grandfather said. "He's very rude, although she was nice enough, if a bit odd." Sypha replied as they watched them go


	4. A corrupt bishop

Disclaimer: I don't own anything that you recognise.

Stepping outside, Lucy and Trevor almost immediately had a knife pointed at their faces. "Uh, careful. My knife hand is not as steady as it used to be. I could just slip and take your eye out." Priest 1 said, before telling them the bishop requested their presence, several other priests aiming their weapons at them. Lucy took one look at them as they surrounded her and Trevor and snorted like it was all some silly joke to her

"I don't think we're allowed into churches." Trevor said, sharing a look with Lucy and giving her a very tiny shake of his head, to which she immediately relaxed just slightly. "The bishop said he'll make an exception for the both of you." Priest 1 replied. "The bishop couldn't come himself?" Lucy asked, happily mocking the priest's self-righteous tone. "The bishop is a very busy man." Priest 1 growled. "With what? Counting extorted money?" Lucy asked, before Trevor gave her a look. "Calm down Lucy, before they kill us both." He muttered

Lucy scoffed at that, before Trevor sighed deeply. "No, seriously. I get that you're trying to menacingly abduct us, but I'm excommunicated and Lucy is a whole different case by herself." He said, earning himself a glare from the woman. They still had to come and reluctantly walked with them to the church. "Look, if I enter the church and catch fire or something, it's your fault." Trevor said and Lucy scoffed loudly

"Don't worry, Trevor. The risk of you catching fire is smaller than these priests doing so." She said, only to get hit for her words. "And what do you mean with that, you little bitch?" Priest 1 asked. "All I'm saying is that while my father and I had a giant falling out about belief and all that, I think that people doing terrible things and saying it is in God's name are much worse than Lucifer." She growled, earning herself another hit. 

During the journey, Lucy started to slouch a tiny bit and looked rather small for a few seconds, before getting poked in her back by a spear of one of the priests and immediately straightening back up with a hiss. "Watch it, that area is very sensitive." She growled at the priest responsible. as she walked onwards, her body ramrod straight. Entering the church, they were forced all the way to the front, Trevor's footsteps echoing through the empty building. Once they were standing in front of the altar, the priests finally left them

Trevor briefly looked Lucy up-and-down and she looked back with a shrug, slowly tapping her foot on the stone floor. The bishop entered and Lucy raised an eyebrow at him. The man just radiated self-importance and corruption. "I'm the bishop of Gresit." He started. "No shit." Lucy muttered, while Trevor noticed that he wasn't from around there. The bishop said he was originally from the capital, asking Trevor how he knew. 

"Well, you're not running away screaming like the rest of the locals for one thing." Trevor said. "From you?" The bishop scoffed unimpressed and Lucy snorted. "From the baby-eating freaks of nature who apparently raid Gresit every night." Trevor elaborated "I'm here to save Gresit." The bishop said and Lucy let out a laugh at those words. "You? How's a corrupt bishop going to save a doomed city?" She asked

"You will curb your tongue while speaking to a child of God! Go any further than this and you will find yourself excommunicated as well." The bishop harshly threatened the woman at the question. "Been there, done that." Lucy commented casually, leaning against Trevor and checking her nails. Only the hunter could feel his friend stiffen up at the subject. "Good. I bet you deserved it." The bishop said and Trevor honestly wondered how he hadn't spontaneously combusted into fire with the glare Lucy sent his way at those words

"Anyway, I brought you both here to answer some questions, not ask them." The bishop continued as if nothing happened. "Well, though shit! How exactly do you intend to help those people by killing the Speakers?" Trevor asked, angry at him for his insult to Lucy. "The Speakers brought this upon themselves. One cannot live without God. Quite literally in these days." The bishop said, walking towards the window.

He missed Trevor and Lucy sharing a look at that. They were doing just fine without God if you asked them. "You think the night hordes come because people weren't religious enough? I guess burning the only person Dracula actually cared about at the stake is completely unrelated to this then." Lucy sneered. The bishop said that he had already left the capital when the vampire came to the city.

"Maybe, but you were there that day, weren't you? You were there the day the church burned an innocent woman alive for being different." Lucy sneered. "Oh yes. I arranged it. That woman was a witch and there can be no doubt now that she consorted with the devil. She even married him" The bishop scoffed and Trevor genuinely had to hold Lucy back at that. "Dracula is not the devil. He's a man lashing out at the world because some small-minded people couldn't comprehend that there was something other than God." She hissed

The bishop glared at her. "You will keep your wife in control." He told Trevor and received two incredibly disturbed looks in return. "She's not my wife!" "I'm not his wife!" They said at the same time. "Nevertheless, keep her quiet before she gets hurt." The bishop said, a threatening undertone in his voice and Lucy let out a mirthless laugh. "So, we're here to be disciplined?" Trevor asked to change the subject again. 

"Not as such. I have a gift for you: your lives Belmont and Mane. Take them and go. Tonight, the Speakers will be dealt with and then Gresit will be secure. I refuse to toil so hard for the soul of this city with two excommunicant heretics within the walls. You could undo everything by your presence" The bishop spat. "Well, perhaps we should." Lucy hissed back "My God. You really believe this, don't you?" Trevor asked in shock.

"He's a disgusting, corrupt, narrow-minded waste of space that thinks he's important because he's in "God's grace." Of course he believes it." Lucy replied. "I'm warning you, Mane: one more outburst like that and you will die with those Speakers. What kind of name is that anyway?" The bishop asked. "I made it up. Give me a quill and paper and I'll show you exactly how I came up with it. It's pretty ingenious if I say so myself." She said.To her surprise, she got those items and sat on the floor to write and draw while Trevor and the bishop continued talking.

"You two will leave Gresit or you will not see the morning. Do I make myself clear? Despite the crimes you've committed against my aides and despite the crimes your family committed against God." The latter said and Lucy immediately looked up, knowing that the subject was a sore spot. "My family committed no crime. You people simply decided we were wrong to defend the land against the supernatural." Trevor said.

"You Belmonts have never understood the power of the Word of God! The people of this city are mine and our Lord's now and they'll do what I ask in His name. By morning, no Speaker wil defile these streets and the two of you will either be gone or dead. Do you understand?" The bishop hissed darkly. "Yes. Come on Lucy." Trevor muttered angrily as he started to leave the church. Lucy scoffed as she finished writing and drawing.

She folded the piece of paper into a ridiculously small thing. Walking towards the bishop and reaching as if to give it to him, she threw it aside at the last moment. "Fetch, _deacon_." She spat, before harshly turning around, her hair immediately hitting the bishop in the face and following her friend. "Enjoy this cold church while you can. Once you die, it'll get very warm for you." She called over her shoulder as she and Trevor walked out. While walking outside, Trevor glanced at his friend."You okay? I've never seen you lose your temper like that." He said 

She sighed. "While you were talking to the Elder, I asked a Speaker what the name of Dracula's wife was. Lisa Ţepeş of Lupus." She said. "You knew her." He realised. "Met her once before meeting you when she sheltered me from a storm. She was the sweetest woman ever. Practically an angel in human form. I heard she had died last year, but didn't make the connection of her being Dracula's wife." She explained, thinking back. 

_\-------------------------- flashback -----------------_

_Lucy was running through the forest in the streaming rain as she tried not to fall and slip, thunder and lightning taking turns going through the sky. She let out a curse as she fell anyway, hissing as a rock cut open an arm. "There's gotta be a fucking inn around here somewhere." She muttered as she stood up again and went on, holding her arm as blood warmed her clammy hand. Eventually, she saw light in the distance._

_Running towards it, she saw it was unfortunately not an inn, but someone's house. "Please let this be a nice person." She muttered as she walked to the front door. Knocking on the door, it was quickly opened by a lovely, blonde woman, whose eyes immediately widened at seeing Lucy's sorry state. "Oh my goodness. Come in, come in, before your catch your death." She said, quickly letting her in. "Thank you." Lucy said as she walked in. "Oh dear. You're injured. Wait here. I've got something for that." The woman said, hurrying into another room._

_"Adrian! Go get my softest towels please." Lucy heard her call from the other room and she soon heard another set of footsteps as a boy walked in with a pile of towels and put it on the table. The woman walked in again with bandages. "Here we are. Sit down and dry yourself off. I'll take care of your arm." She said. "Thank you." Lucy said again as she sat down at the table and grabbed a towel from the pile._

_"You're very welcome. I'm Lisa and this is my son Adrian." The woman said with a warm smile, gesturing to the boy and starting to treat the wound on Lucy's arm. Adrian nodded at her, before walking away without a word. "Forgive him. He's very shy." Lisa apologised and Lucy gave her a one-shoulder shrug. "That's alright. I'm not good with humans either." She said and Lisa chuckled at that, before Lucy introduced herself._

_Once the wound was taken care of and bound, Lisa asked where Lucy came from. "Very far away. I got kicked out of my home and have been travelling ever since." Lucy said as Adrian walked back inside with a thick book under his arm. "Oh, I'm so sorry." The kind woman immediately said and she smiled. "Don't be. It happened a long time ago." She said as she carefully put her belt with her sword away and next to the door, thinking it rather inappropriate to carry a sword into someone's home, especially one so incredibly kind._

_"Where did you get that sword?" Adrian asked quietly. "My father made it for me. It was one of the few things I was allowed to take with me when he kicked me out." She answered. "Well, since you have nowhere to go, I insist you stay here until the storm's over." Lisa said and Lucy sighed for a second, but conceded as she thanked her hostess again. Lisa gave her some warm soup to make sure she didn't get pneumonia_

_While they were talking, Lucy couldn't help but notice odd things about Adrian. When he talked, which wasn't often at all, he always did so with his mouth almost completely closed and the words muffled and she had never met anyone with golden irises before. She also noticed him and Lisa being very careful about what they told her. It was as if they feared that she'd suddenly run to tattle on them about something._

_About halfway through her delicious soup, she finally got her answer as Adrian suddenly sneezed out of nowhere, his mouth wide open for just a very short second and two fangs being incredibly visible. Both he and his mother immediately stiffened up and looked at her in fear, clearly expecting her to scream and run to tell the church. She simply gave them a shrug. "Not the weirdest thing I've seen, but are you actually your age? Or do you age really fast or really slow?" She asked, genuinely curious and Lisa and Adrian stared at her._

_"You're not scared of me?" Adrian asked her carefully and Lucy shrugged once again in answer._ _"You didn't give me any reason to fear you and again, I've seen many weirder things. Don't worry. I'm not telling anyone about this" She said and the other two occupants slowly relaxed at that. "Thank you." Lisa breathed in relief and Lucy smiled. "So, are you full vampire or half?" She asked. "Half. My mother is still human." Adrian said._

_He sounded a lot more happy and lively now that he didn't have to fear about her seeing his fangs and running to betray him and his mother. "Do you ever bite your tongue? I do that all the time." She said and Lisa and Adrian both chuckled, the latter giving her tips_ _. She stayed there for the night and left when sun came up again. Turning around after a while, she waved at the two in the distance, before continuing on_

_\--------------------- end flashback ------------------------------_

"I thought about going back and seeing them again several times, but I guess that will never happen now." Lucy finished her quiet story, not knowing if any church spies were listening in to the conversation. Didn't really matter anyway as if the bishop figured out the puzzle she'd left him, he'd want her killed anyway. "So, you knew the woman had a half-vampire son and you didn't tell anyone?" Trevor asked and she glared at him. "I'm many things, Trevor, but I'm not a tattle tale. Besides, Lisa took me in when she didn't have to." She defended herself

"The least I could do was not rat her and Adrian out to those sick bastards." She continued and he had to concede at that. "And the son? Did you ever see him again?" He asked. "No, I didn't. I hope he's okay with everything that has happened. Losing your mother like that sounds absolutely terrible." She said. "Maybe, he's helping his dad." Trevor muttered. "I honestly hope not. He was a really sweet kid." Lucy said. 

"Was the church really cold?" Trevor asked after a few seconds. "Cold as ice." She answered. "Wow, they really screwed up." He muttered as they reached the cottage with the Speakers. Trevor told them about what the priest had said, but they still refused to leave. "No. I already let an innocent woman die at that bastard's hands and I refuse to let it happen again. You're leaving, now!" Lucy hissed, rolling up her sleeves

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Read and review. 
> 
> See you next time


	5. Fighting in the streets

Disclaimer: I don't own anything that you recognise 

"They're coming." Lucy said quietly at hearing the townspeople come closer to their location. She and Trevor were now the only ones left vin the Speaker cottage, having forced the Speakers to hide in the chamber with the dead cyclops. "Then let's give them a proper welcome." Her friend said with a dark smirk as he readied his blade. Lucy stretched and moved her fingers, sparks of fire jumping between them. 

She may not be as powerful as she once was a long time ago, but she could take on a few incredibly corrupt priests and misled humans. "The night creatures are coming closer to us as well. I can sense them." She said as they stood up, sensing the darkness approaching the city and he nodded. The closed door was hacked into with an axe and kicked open by one of the townspeople. Seeing that it was only Trevor and Lucy, the priests walked in. "Where are the Speakers?" One of them demanded to know, not the same one as before

"We've put them somewhere safe. Somewhere you'll never be able to reach them." Trevor said with a small smirk. "You defend evil, like that abomination standing next to you. How dare you deville the church with your presence?!" The priest spat, glaring at Lucy with hatred in his eyes. "Oh look, my friend. They've figured out the drawing I left them. I guess they have some kind of brain after all." Lucy scoffed loudly.

"From what you told me, you didn't make it very hard for them." Trevor commented with a mocking smirk on his face. "Well, they never would've figured it out otherwise." Lucy calmly replied, before the priest interrupted them. "Enough! You will die for your crimes against God, but you first give the Speakers to us!" He demanded. "Shut up." Trevor hissed. "What did you say?" The priest asked, getting closer to him.

Lucy made a feint attack towards him and he immediately jumped back as if she had burned him. "Stay away from me, abomination!" He hissed and Lucy rolled her eyes. "Stay the fuck away from my friend then." She replied, before Trevor spoke up again. "You're not getting the Speakers. You're getting no blood today, so shut up." He said. "You will give us the Speakers and once we've killed her. The city will be saved." The priest said, spitting at Lucy. "This city's lost. It was lost when you and the rest of your scum moved in." She hissed

"So you plan to fight us? Us, who have been chosen by God? You will burn before the sun's up." He spat. "Oh, trust me...." Lucy said, a fireball appearing in her hands. "I'm not the one who's going to burn." She growled and the priest turned to Trevor. "How can you stand in its company. Let me guess: it tempted you with power beyond your imagination. Power that is not its to give and your dark heart succumbed?" He mocked

Trevor glared at him. " _She_ saved my life from priests like you who decided it was a good idea to try and kill the last Belmont. It's funny how she was the first one to show my any kindness in a very long time while people like you tried to kill me." He growled. "And now look at you. You're a wreck. You stink. You can barely keep your eyes open. Let us take her to her proper justice and you will be rewarded." The priest said. 

"No. I don't know any of you, but that doesn't matter what I choose, does it? My family, the family you demonized and excommunicated, has fought and died through generations for this country." Trevor replied, before proudly stating that he was a Belmont and he would fight at Lucy's side. The priests immediately pulled their blades and gained on them. Trevor attacked first and threw several small knives at them, cutting at their hands and arms and making them drop their weapons. Lucy jumped high in the sky to dodge them

Killing a priest and tackling him outside, Trevor pulled on a rope and made the wall of the cottage collapse. Seeing the townspeople advance on them, Trevor used his whip to get an axe from one of them. Throwing it to Lucy, she threw into the sky. The axe cut a rope and a big crucifix fell down, forcing the people to run away. "Well, if our intentions weren't clear before, they sure as hell are now." She commented with a dry grin. 

Everyone stared at the crucifix in shock and they took that opportunity to run away, Lucy easily keeping up with Trevor and the latter stealing a torch. Running into the alleys, Trevor stopped a small group from following him by setting oil on fire. Finding himself surrounded as two priests were standing on the rooftops with bow and arrows and seeing a third priest about to jump down to join them, Trevor looked at Lucy and pointed upwards.

She nodded in understanding and jumped up as the third priest landed on the ground and attacked Trevor. He expected his fellow priest to shoot him once he was out of hiding from behind the wall, but it didn't happen. Just as Trevor was about to kill him, he turned the priest around so he could see his corrupt colleagues were already dead, Lucy wiping their blood of her sword. Trevor killed him before he could scream to warn the others. Running one way as Lucy rejoined him, they found that a mob was waiting for them and turned the other way. 

As this was happening and they were leading the people on a wild chase, the bishop that started it all was waiting inside the church. The door opened briefly and closed again. "Are the Speakers dead?" He asked. "No." A very low voice said. "Well, get back out there. The Speakers have to die before the sun goes down." He ordered, somehow not realising that the demonic voice was not of one of his men

"The sun is already down." The voice said as its owner finally walked into his sight. It was a wolf like creature with horns on its back and several glowing blue eyes and mouth. Several bat-like creatures scaled the walls, growling as they got closer to him. "You cannot enter the house of God." The bishop protested. "God is not here. This is an empty box, but you already know that, don't you?" Bluefangs asked mockingly

"God is in all His churches." The bishop immediately protested, ignoring the scathing question. "Your God's love is not unconditional. He does not love us and He does not love you." Bluefangs scoffed. "I have done His bidding. My life's work is in His name." The bishop said. "Your life's work makes Him puke." Bluefangs spat at him. "I am the bishop of Gresit." The bishop stated as if that made any difference. "Your God knows that we wouldn't be here without you. This is all your fault, isn't it?" The creature asked.

"She was a witch!" The bishop protested. "Lies? In your house of God. No wonder He has abandoned you. But we love you." Bluefangs said. "What?" The bishop asked in shock. "We love you and I think that our ruler will be overjoyed to have you down with us. We couldn't be here without you. Let me kiss you." Bluefangs said as he got closer and hovered over the bishop. The last thing he saw was the creature's glowing jaws

Outside the corrupted church, Lucy and Trevor were still running away from the townspeople, the latter panting harder and harder as they reached the market and saw they were finally surrounded. They got immediately ready to defend themselves as the people closed in on them, when a circle of fire suddenly surrounded them. Trevor immediately looked at Lucy, but she shook her head. This wasn't her doing at all 

Looking up, they saw Sypha standing there on a rooftop, both her index and middle fingers glowing brightly with magic. "Awesome." Lucy breathed, thoroughly impressed as priest 1 accused her of being a witch. "They never learn, do they?" Trevor muttered and Lucy shook her head. "No! I am a speaker and a scholar of magic. I serve no demon and I do no evil." Sypha stated proudly, shooting both ice and fire at them. "I like her." Lucy stated as Sypha created a pathway for them with her fire and they walked through. 

"You never told us you were a magician!" Trevor called up to her. "You never asked." Sypha replied with a smirk. "Yup, I definitely like her." Lucy stated with a smirk of her own as Trevor asked what she was doing here. "I didn't ask either of you to fight for me. I fight for myself." She said. "Fine." Trevor commented, before Lucy noticed priest 1. "You!" She hissed in disgust. "Kill them! Quickly!" Priest 1 ordered the people 

"No. Just you and me. Come on. You're very big at telling other people what to do. Getting the good people to commit murder for you, all while God abandons the good people in the city because of your actions. Let's see how you do on your own. You and me." She said, flicking her wrist and dousing the flames. Sypha stared at this in shock. She had never had met anyone with the same kind of powers as her

Meanwhile, Lucy slowly advanced at the priest. Her eyes glowed with sheer anger as she glared away the disgusting human, who would drive innocent people to kill. "I can see you're carrying a blade. I wonder if the people of the great city of Gresit have ever seen a priest draw a knife before." She said loudly, eliciting murmurs and whispers around them. Sypha carefully joined Trevor and stared at Lucy in surprise. "Wil she be alright?" She asked. "Lucy is very good with words. She'll be fine." Trevor said with a smirk, excited to see this. 

"Your long knife and my thin sword. Let's go" Lucy said with a grin. At seeing him hesitate to come towards her, she rolled her eyes. Sure, when he had support, he talked all though and when he was alone, his true, cowardly personality showed itself. "Come on. You hear no trouble beating an old, innocent man this morning. You had no problem lying to these people about the Speakers, who are trying to help." She said

"They only get hate and scorn in return thanks to you." She spat. "The Speakers brought this upon us." Priest 1 said "No, they didn't and you know it. The Speakers stayed here to offer aid. It was your bishop who brought this upon us when he burned a sweet, innocent woman to death for being different. A woman who wanted to help everyone, no matter who they were." She hissed with a voice full of disgust

"You would have made murderers out of these people, but the only one here who isn't innocent about this situation is you." Lucy spat, before a man ran forwards and stabbed the priest. Three other men stabbed him as well. "Told you she's good with words." Trevor muttered. "Damn it. I wanted to kill him myself." Lucy murmured as she rejoined them and Trevor patted her back, before there was a loud explosion. "It's them. They're coming." Sypha said, all three of them knowing she meant the night creatures.

Trevor took charge and ordered the people to listen to them both if they wanted to survive. "Everyone with a pike or a long weapon, get out in front with me and Lucy." He ordered, harshly pulling one of them with him. While he was busy ordering them around on how to defend themselves, Lucy turned to the rest. "We need an actually good priest. One who's properly ordained in a church and isn't corrupt like fuck." She said loudly.

One priest raised his hand. Lucy smiled encouragingly at him and hoped it was enough"Grab some people, get buckets of water and bless it. Truly bless it. You, you and you. Protect him and the water until you get back here." She ordered, pointing at three men, who nodded and ran away with the priest. Trevor ordered Sypha to get ready to wall in the monsters with her powers so they could only come towards them.

"I want salt over here! As much as you can find!" Lucy ordered. Buckets of salt were quickly carried over and put down on the ground. "Everyone with a sword, wipe your blade in the salt! It hurts demons! Say it out loud and spread the word so everyone knows!" She shouted and the people nodded."You're really good in ordering people around." Sypha said. "I've done it before.... sort of." She confessed."Sort of?" Sypha asked in confusion, before the creatures appeared. Sypha walled them in with ice .

Trevor threw the first bucket of water at the monstrous creatures, immediately burning them as soon as the water hit them. "Look at that. That priest really knew how to make Holy water." Lucy murmured impressed, before Trevor took over. One demon sent a fireball towards them. Lucy stopped it from hitting them and Trevor killed it. That's when Bluefangs made its appearance and attacked the trio.

For some reason, it really focused on attacking Trevor and Sypha. The latter eventually managed to kill it by stabbing it with ice pikes shooting out of the ground. "There's an army of us! An army from hell! You'll see! Lucifer will reign over you!" The creature spat, before Lucy harshly chopped its head off and it exploded. That's when the ground beneath them crumbled and they fell down into a deep hole. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Read and review. See you next time


	6. Finding a familiar face

Disclaimer: I don't own anything that you recognise 

"Lucy, catch Sypha!" Trevor quickly ordered as they fell down and Lucy turned herself in mid-air, grabbing the woman's hand as well as Trevor's. She looked at Trevor in uncertainty and he quickly nodded. "Do it now, Lucy!" He ordered. She took a deep breath and made a certain movement with her body. Immediately after, she, Trevor and Sypha slowed down and landed on the ground unharmed.

She sighed in relief at having her friend and Sypha unharmed, rolling her shoulders to get rid of the irritating strain using her powers always gave her. "How... how did you do that?" The female Speaker asked in surprise. "That's my secret, I'm afraid." She said with a smirk. "Wait a minute, you have magic powers, can slow down your fall in mid-air and the church absolutely hates you. You're a real witch, aren't you?" Sypha asked and she immediately sighed in defeat, pulling a face. "Damn it. Yes. I'm a witch." She said.

"I knew it." Sypha said with a smile, before noticing the room they were in. "The catacombs again. We're deeper than I went before." She said as they walked forwards and looked around, briefly ignoring the recent revelation, but Lucy had the feeling that she'd be interrogated about it as soon as they were out of here and already prepared her answers. She looked up at the giant machines that were rotating at the ceiling

She tilted her head slightly in confusion at seeing them. She had never seen things like this before in her entire life and wondered what they were for "It's so dark in here." Trevor muttered. "Well, luckily for us, I'm a lover of light." Lucy said, lighting up a fireball in her hand as they looked around. While Sypha was looking around, Trevor walked closer to Lucy. "Are you alright?" He asked quietly and she sighed.

""Abomination," "it." I haven't been called these things in a long time. Not since I left home. My older brother loved calling me that when I was cast out. I was not even called that by you when I told you the truth. I guess I almost forgot the sting of it." She muttered and he quietly patted her back, before they were almost killed by two stones harshly slamming together. Running away from them before they could get crushed by the stones, the trio jumped from a ledge and fell once again into darkness, all three screaming loudly.

This time, they didn't need Lucy to catch them as they immediately slid down to the next level as the ground was at an angle. Lucy hissed again at the rough stone scraping her. Landing at the bottom of the slide, they quickly stood up and looked around. Even bigger rotating machines were there and they were on their guard, not knowing what to expect this time "I don't like this." Lucy muttered as they walked forwards

As if designed by fate, the floor immediately to harshly crack underneath them. Thinking quickly, Lucy grabbed Trevor and Sypha and jumped an almost impossible distance, landing on the rotating wheels. "Witches can do that too?" Sypha asked her in shock. "If they're powerful enough." The other woman replied with a small wink. Realising that they couldn't stay there forever. Trevor pointed at the scaffolding. 

"Lucy can you bring us there?" He asked in curiosity, looking at his old friend and she looked back at the scaffolding, slightly tilting her head in silent contemplation as she looked at the distance for several seconds with narrowed eyes. "I think that I'll be able to do it, yes but only if I carry you over one-by-one and you let me calculate the jump for a minute." She answered thoughtfully. She calculated the distance for a few seconds, before grabbing Sypha both gently and tightly to make sure she didn't fall and jumping once again.

Sypha immediately screamed loudly as the scaffolding suddenly came closer towards them at a very rapid pace, but it was very clear that Lucy had done this at least several times before as they managed not to collide with any of the bars and landed safely on one of them. Making sure that she was standing securely on the bar and was holding onto something, Lucy quickly jumped back to get Trevor.

Grunting slightly at his much heavier weight, she jumped back with him. The scaffolding vibrated as they landed. "You really need to lose some weight." She muttered, before they heard the cracking of iron and saw the beams already breaking down beneath them."Oh, for God's sake." Trevor muttered in exasperation as the wheels they had just been standing on broke down as well and fell to the floor, breaking it into pieces and creating a hole.

This destabilized the scaffolding and it slowly started to fall over. "Hold onto Lucy!" Trevor immediately shouted loudly as they started to fall over towards the hole, Sypha having no trouble immediately obeying that order as she grabbed the other woman with one arm. "I'm not a pack-mule!" Lucy quickly screamed back in frustration, but held onto the two of them nonetheless. The scaffolding fell right onto the hole in the floor and the three humans fell down once more, Lucy being forced to slow down their fall again.

"If we're quite done falling now, that would be very nice. This really drains my powers." She muttered to herself as she put her companions on the ground, before looking around where they had landed. "What is this place?" She asked in confusion. It seemed to be some kind of vault or a room that was either part of a castle or designed after one. At the other end of the room was a raised platform with a closed coffin on it.

All of them immediately on their guard at seeing the vampire coffin standing there, they slowly walked towards it to see what it was. Lucy didn't like this situation at all. First the cyclops attacking them in the first room, then those moving walls trying to crush them and that all to seemingly guard this very room. It seemed like something or someone really didn't want to be found and a part of her wanted to know why.

She suddenly realised the pull she felt before was back and stronger than before, making her want to go to the coffin. What was going on? As they walked forwards towards the coffin, Lucy unable to stop herself from appreciating the pretty room, Trevor suddenly stepped on a switch stone that sank into the floor, things immediately beginning to move in response "I didn't do that." He said as he looked at Sypha and Lucy, both women quickly giving him a very unamused look as they could clearly see he really did do that. That's when the coffin opened.

A tall, shirtless man with long, blond hair floated out of the coffin, his arms crossed over his chest like a vampire, but a scar on his chest. For some reason, he looked familiar to Lucy. The man leaned forwards, his hair hiding his face and spoke up. "Why are you here?" He asked, his voice deep and low. Something in Lucy almost purred at hearing it, making her shake her head with a confused face. Where had that come from?

"The story. The messiah sleeps under Gresit. The man who will save us from Dracula" Sypha said in awe and the woman next to her pulled a face at hearing one word "And the two of you? Are you in search of a mythical saviour?" The man asked, looking at Trevor and Lucy. "I actually prefer to stay far away from them." Lucy muttered I fell in a hole." Trevor said. "Correction: you would've fallen into a hole if it wasn't for me." Lucy piped up.

"You have powers?" The floating man asked. "She's a witch." Sypha said before Lucy could do so. "That explains a lot." The man said with a scoff and Lucy raised an eyebrow. "What's that supposed to mean?" She asked, but Sypha interrupted. "Dracula is abroad in this land. He has an army of monsters. He's determined to wipe out all human life wherever he finds it." She said. "Is that what you believe?" The man asked Trevor. "That Dracula's released his horde on Wallachia? That's fact. There's no "belief involved." Trevor said.

"But that's not what you're asking." He continued, the man confirming it. "You're asking if I believe you're some sleeping messiah who will save us and no, I don't." Trevor said, ignoring Sypha's rebuke. "I know what you are." He hissed. "And what am I?" The man asked. "You're a vampire." Trevor said. The man finally lifted his head to reveal two golden irises and long fangs. Lucy widened her eyes and took a step back in shock

"No fucking way."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Read and review. See you next time


	7. Fighting and forming a team

Disclaimer: I don't own anything that you recognise 

"No fucking way." 

Lucy just couldn't believe it. The Sleeping Soldier that Sypha gushed about was fucking Adrian. The boy she had met years ago. He looked all grown up now, despite the fact that it had most certainly been less than a decade since they met. She guessed that the physically fast aging he and Lisa had told her about had happened. Maybe it was a Dhampir puberty thing? 

"So, I have to ask myself: did we come here to wake the man destined to kill Dracula or did we come here to wake Dracula?" Trevor asked, not noticing his friend's small outburst. "You call me Dracula." Adrian immediately scoffed. "I'll call you anything you like if you show me your teeth." Trevor immediately responded harshly. Adrian silently ignored this comment and instead focused on Sypha's rebuke from a minute ago. "She called you "Belmont." House of Belmont?" He asked and Trevor fully introduced himself to the Dhampir.

"The Belmonts fought creatures of the night, did they not? For generations." Adrian commented, glancing at Lucy. Of course, he remembered her. "Say what you mean." Trevor hissed darkly, walking to where Adrian was still floating "Trevor..." Lucy said, trying to stop him from doing something stupid. He didn't listen. "The Belmonts killed vampires." Adrian commented

"Until the good people decided they didn't want us around. And now Dracula is carrying out an execution order on the human race." Trevor said slowly, walking to stand to the side of Adrian. Lucy noticed how he was getting more and more tense with the second, ready for a fight. She also realised that Adrian was counting on this and was purposefully taunting him for some reason

"Do you care, Belmont?" The Dhampir asked with a raised eyebrow. "Honestly, I didn't, no. But now, yes. It's time to stop it." Trevor said earnestly, earning him smiles from both Sypha and Lucy. "Do you think you can?" Adrian asked. "What I think... is I'm going to have to kill you." The Belmont answered with a growl. "Trevor!" Lucy shouted at the same time as Sypha protested as well. "Belmont, no! He's the one we've been waiting for!" She said. "No, he's not. He's a vampire and you haven't been sleeping for hundreds of years, have you?" Trevor asked harshly 

After asking what year it was right now, Adrian revealed he had only been sleeping for about a year. "There and on top of that, what kind of messiah creates death traps to buy himself an uninterrupted nap in a stone coffin?" Trevor asked scathingly. "My defenses were not for you." Adrian said, glancing at Lucy once again. "You could've told your defenses that." Trevor scoffed. 

"They are machines, nothing more. They were not intended to protect me from you. I asked you a question.... do you care?" Adrian asked once more. "I care about doing my family's work. I care about saving human lives. Am I going to have to kill you?"Trevor asked. "Do you think you can. If you're really a Belmont and not some runt running around with a family crest, you might be able to." Adrian said. 

With one slight movement of his fingers, a very long, thin sword quickly shot out of the coffin and right into his hand. "Let's find out." He said challengingly. "Trevor, that's enough!" Lucy shouted. Sypha protested as well. "You can't do this!" She said. "Tell that to your floating, vampire Jesus here." Trevor immediately replied to them both and even though it was a very tense situation, Lucy let out a snort. _'If I ever return home, I'm so telling the others about that comment.'_ She thought, despite knowing that she was never going home

"You've got nothing but insults, have you? A tired little..." Adrian started, only to be hit and harshly knocked back by Trevor's consecrated whip. Lucy immediately winced as she saw the wound it left on his stomach. "Trevor, stop it!" She shouted again, but he ignored her as soon as he realised she wouldn't help him. "Can't you use one of your powers to make him stop?"" Sypha asked. 

"Once upon a time, I could, but not anymore." She replied. Sypha decided to protest it again. "He's not your messiah." Trevor responded, thinking Adrian was Dracula and in a way, he was right as Adrian had half of Dracula's DNA in him. "Do you know what Dracula looks like?" Adrian asked as he kept dodging Trevor's whip. "No one knows what Dracula looks like." Trevor said. 

"About two metres tall, black hair, very pointy ears, a goatee and incredibly pale skin." Lucy quickly piped up, only to have the other three occupants in the room immediately stare at her, Adrian and Trevor briefly stopping their fight to do so. "What? I actually met him several years ago. We met, acknowledged each other and went on our merry way again." She defended herself and the guys quickly continued fighting again. Lucy winced once more as Trevor knocked Adrian out of the sky and onto the ground with his whip.

She wanted to make sure he was okay, but held herself back. What was going on with her? Adrian eventually managed to take the whip out of Trevor's hands, forcing him to use his short sword. Standing right in front of each other, Trevor tried to knee the Dhampir in the groin. It didn't work. "Please. This isn't a bar fight. Have some class." Adrian replied coolly, before getting a headbutt from the last Belmont. 

Despite the situation, Lucy desperately tried to keep herself from laughing. Trevor eventually got cornered by Adrian and the Dhampir hovered over him, fangs bared and seemingly ready to strike. "Do you have a God to put a last prayer to, Belmont?" He asked. "Yeah. Dear God, please don't let the vampire's guts ruin my good tunic." Trevor said with a smirk.

This confused Adrian for a second, until he realised Trevor was actually stabbing him in the stomach with one of his daggers. "I could still rip your throat out." He threatened the human. "You can, but it won't stop me from staking you." Trevor replied. "But you will still die." Adrian reminded him. "But I don't care. Killing you was the point. Living through was just a luxury." Trevor said and Adrian let out a dry chuckle at that, before he heard a sword being pulled and felt a cold blade being held against his neck. 

"Trevor, that's enough and Adrian, if you hurt my friend, you'll severely regret it." Lucy said, holding her sword against the Dhampir's neck. Sypha quickly conjured up her fire magic. "And I'll help by incinerating your body." She said. "I thought I was your legendary saviour." Adrian commented. "So did I, but these two saved my life and I owe them." Sypha replied.

"You're a Speaker magician and you're a witch." The Dhampir commented, looking from Sypha to Lucy. "Yes and their goal is mine. To stand up for the people" Sypha said. "Well..." Lucy started, only to get a fierce glare from the speaker. "I'm kidding. I'm kidding." She quickly said, before looking at the Dhampir. "Could you now please get off my friend, Adrian?" She asked he did so, healing his wounds as he stood up

A witch, a vampire hunter and a magician. You'll do." He commented as he stood up. "Wait, you two know each other?" Trevor asked as he got up as well, looking between Lucy and Adrian. "Remember Dracula's son I told you about?" Lucy asked in return, gesturing to Adrian in answer. "But you said he was a kid." Trevor said. "At the time, he was." Lucy defended herself, making Adrian laugh "I'm Adrian Ţepeş. Known to the Wallachians as Alucard." The Dhampir formally introduced himself to the two who didn't know him

He told them that he had put himself to sleep after being grievously injured in a fight with his father. Lucy looked down at the large scar on his chest at that and winced. To her confusion, Sypha immediately blushed when he asked if she knew the full story. Apparently, the soldier would be accompanied by a scholar, a creature looking for redemption and a hunter.

At the creature part of the prophecy, both Trevor and Sypha immediately looked at Lucy while Adrian got dressed in a white shirt and a black overcoat, the former with understanding and the latter with curiosity and wondering why she was that part of the story. "So, what happens now?" Lucy asked to change the awkward subject and distract them from it.

"I need a hunter, a creature and a scholar. I need help to save Wallachia, perhaps the world and defeat my father." Adrian said, his sword magically flying up and returning to its scabbard. Trevor asked him why. "Because it's what my mother would've wanted. And we are all, in the end, slaves to our families' wishes." Adrian replied, Lucy stiffening up at his words. "You'll help us kill Dracula and save Wallachia?" Trevor asked, having noticed the flinch and distracting the others from it. "My father has to die. We four... we can destroy him." Adrian said as they joined up

While walking out of the vault, Lucy looked at Adrian. "It's good to see you again." She said awkwardly and he chuckled. "You too, Lucy." He replied, patting her shoulder and getting a shock. They both flinched at it. "Are you alright?" He asked. "Yeah, I'm fine." She quickly said with a smile, before turning away and making a face. She knew what that shock meant. Everything made sense now

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Read and review. See you next time


	8. Leaving Gresit

Disclaimer: I don't own anything that you recognise.

A few days after they found Adrian, the other speakers were finally leaving Gresit. Now that the people knew how to fight the night creatures by themselves, they weren't needed anymore and were going on to help other cities. While Sypha and Trevor went with them to the gate to wave them goodbye, Lucy decided to stay with Adrian in the ruined Speaker cottage, so the elder said goodbye to her there.

"Good luck, Lucy Stella Mane. May luck be in your future." He said genuinely with a smile as he gently held both her hands and she immediately smiled back at him. "You too, sir. You're a better human being than I can ever wish to be." She replied. "But who are you, Lucy Mane?" He asked and with a smile, she leaned closer and whispered something in his ear. "My word." He breathed in shock, looking at her and she gave him a shrug.

Glancing at Sypha, he gulped slightly. "Do you promise she'll be safe with you?" He asked quietly "I promise, sir. She's earned my respect. I give you my word that I'll do my best to keep her safe and I never, ever break my word. Although, she doesn't really need it." She replied honestly and he quietly chuckled at that. "You truly are remarkable, Lucy. May you forever be like this." He said, giving her a small bow and she gave one back.That's when he had to leave with Trevor, Sypha and the other Speakers. She watched him go

"I really like that guy. I hope he survives" She said with a smile and Adrian softly chuckled in answer, before she sat down on the ground next to him and they settled into a rather comfortable silence for a while. "I know it doesn't really help that much at this point, but I'm genuinely sorry for what happened. She really didn't deserve her fate." She said after several seconds, feeling rather awkward about it all

He gave her a small smile, appreciating the words nonetheless. "Thank you." He said with a nod. "But seriously, is that rapid aging a puberty thing with Dhampirs or something? Cause you've grown up well." She said and he chuckled again. "You can say that." He replied, before falling silent and drawing pictures of his parents in the sand with a stick. Realising he wanted to be alone, Lucy went to the marketplace to give him some privacy.

She had her own thinking to do anyway, looking at her hand.She had felt the shock and knew what that meant. She took a deep breath in frustration. "Damn you." She whispered to no one in particular. "Just ignore it. You might not survive the next month, so what's the point of worrying about something like this?" She quietly asked herself. She bought a few red apples from a lady. Well, "bought" would be the wrong term for it because as soon as the woman saw her, she loudly declared that Lucy could have anything she wanted for free as a reward for saving them from the monsters.

The other vendors on the market immediately agreed with her and said the same thing, making her blush. She didn't notice the pair of eyes glaring at her from an alley as she tried on a warm, woollen scarf at first, only to sense that someone was watching her after a few minutes. Looking in the direction of the alley, she didn't see anything. "Did you notice anything?" She asked the man behind the stall and he schook his head.

"No Ms, but whatever it was, it couldn't possibly be the night creatures thanks to you." He said with a laugh. She chuckled dryly at his words, before eventually going back to the cottage with her newly gotten scarf. "Not every monster appears at night." She muttered to herself. Adrian looked up after wiping the drawings away and deciding to be Alucard of Wallachia and defend its people from his father.

He smiled at seeing Lucy coming back with her hands full of apples and a new scarf, immediately figuring out why she had gone."Thank you." He said again and she nodded in return. "I'm a nice person. I am. Ask Lucy. I know how to be nice." They eventually heard Trevor say as he and Sypha came back from waving the Speakers goodbye at the gate. "No, you don't." Sypha replied. "I am. I'm nice to everybody." Trevor insisted and both Adrian and Lucy shared an silent but amused look at hearing the conversation.

"Then why are most of the stories you've told me in the last few days are about you arriving somewhere and getting punched in the face, forcing Lucy to save you?" Sypha asked sarcastically. "That's because everybody else, except for Lucy, is simply a horrible piece of shit." Trevor quickly replied. "See?" Sypha asked and Lucy immediately had to hide a smile behind her hand as they arrived at the cottage as well.

"So, how do we proceed?" Sypha asked. "Have the Speakers left?" He asked in return, Trevor confirming it. "I'm sorry. In success, you'll see them again soon in far happier circumstances." The Dhampir told the magician. "See? He and Lucy both know to be nice." Sypha said as Trevor went to look for a drink. "Apple?" Lucy asked, offering one of the apples she'd gotten to the speaker. "No, thank you." Sypha replied politely.

"Yeah, might be for the best. Last time I offered someone an apple, things went downhill fast." She muttered, before casually eating her apple. Sypha gave her a look, before letting it go as there were bigger things to worry about. "Is it true, then? The castle can travel somehow? We know the stories, but sometimes it's hard to separate myth from truth." She said, looking down at the ground. "Tell her about Dracula's castle, Alucard. Her day can't be even more ruined." Trevor said as he looked around the cottage.

"Dracula's castle moves. How to describe it? It travels without moving. It appears at locations as if... well, as if by magic." He said as Trevor thought he had found a bottle of wine, only to see it was broken. Lucy shook her head at him and walked towards him. "Trevor, we're literally planning to stop Dracula and your biggest concern is getting a drink?" She hissed as Sypha asked Adrian if there was a way to trap the castle.

Trevor immediately glared at his friend. "I want to go home." He muttered. "Have you been drinking again?" Sypha asked, Lucy making a gesture as if to say "see?" "Some chance, but no. I want to go home. The old Belmont estate." He said and Lucy frowned. "Trevor, that estate will be no more than ruins now." She said. "It is, but the value of the old house wasn't the house itself. It was what was underneath it." Trevor said 

"The Belmont hold. Our family's library and trove." He continued and Lucy's eyes immediately lit up in understanding. "The collective knowledge material of generations of Belmonts that fought the creatures of the night. That sounds interesting.... if it survives." Adrian commented from his spot, sounding more interested now that he knew what Trevor was talking about. "If there are solutions to the problems of finding and killing Dracula, they're in the hold." Trevor insisted. "You're guessing, though." Adrian replied."I am guessing." The hunter admitted

"I can't read or understand magic, but my family stored everything they found, including books of magic and other weird stuff they came across. I just can't do anything with it, but you three can." Trevor said. "Fortunate indeed then that I decided not to kill and eat you, Belmont." Adrian said calmly. And that I decided against gutting you, flaying you and turning into shoes, Alucard." The hunter replied. "Boys, that's enough." Lucy said.

"Such a merry band we are. I'll find us a covered wagon and horses, if you two can manage not to kill each other while I'm gone." Sypha said. "Oh please. We're not children." Adrian said and Sypha walked away with a very disbelieving face. "Eat shit and die." Trevor said as soon as she was gone. "Yes, Fuck you." Adrian replied, before they laughed. "You two are hopeless." Lucy said, before letting out a yelp as Adrian threw sand at her

Sypha walked through the town in search for a wagon and two horses, walking past an alley when she suddenly heard a voice. "You should've left." The voice said. She immediately jumped and whirled around at hearing it. A man was standing in the shadow of the alley. "Excuse me?" She asked and the man pushed himself from the wall, walking over to her. "You should've left with your family while you had the chance. You shouldn't be helping that despicable creature." He spat, blue eyes glaring at her as he towered over her.

"Adrian isn't despicable. He's very honorable" Sypha immediately replied defensively and he let out a very cold laugh in return. "Oh, I'm not talking about Adrian." He said and Sypha widened her eyes at realising he meant Lucy. "What do you know of her?" She asked. "More than you do and that's why I'm warning you to stay away from it, unless you really want to die with a knife in your back." He said. 

Sypha glared at him. "Lucy wouldn't do that. She saved my life." She immediately protested. "A simple ploy to get your trust. Nothing more." He said dismissively and she had enough. "Shut up. I don't know what your deal is, but I'm not buying it. Now, if you'll excuse me. I have mankind to save." She said, walking away. "Don't say I didn't warn you." She heard him call from behind, but when she turned around, he was gone.

She eventually got a wagon and horses and they rode away from the city, Sypha and Trevor sitting at the front and Adrian and Lucy sitting next to each other in the covered back. The latter pair both silently looked back at the city, wondering if they'd ever see it again. "If we survive and win this battle, I'm absolutely coming back here in a year or so to see how things are." She commented, carefully leaning on Adrian's shoulder to watch the city disappear and making sure not to overstep her bounds with him and he chuckled.

"Sounds like a plan." He commented, before noticing her stiffening up at something. "Are you alright?" He asked, trying to see what she was looking at, but not seeing anything "Yeah, I'm fine. Nothing's wrong." She said too quickly to be natural as she turned away and went deeper into the wagon. On the top of the wall, the man Sypha spoke to was watching them go. "Everything you touch rots, _Lucy_. Remember that." He said

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Read and review. See you next time


	9. Conversations around the campfire

Disclaimer: I don't own anything that you recognise 

They travelled for a few days at the very least, leaving Gresit behind them and going into the wild. They had gotten free supplies from the people and Trevor and Lucy are rather good at hunting things, so they often brought back a deer or another animal to eat at the fire that either Lucy or Sypha created with their powers. Still, Sypha couldn't shake the warning the stranger had given her from her mind

One evening, after Lucy had seemingly fallen asleep next to Adrian, she turned to Trevor. "Can I ask you something?" She asked. "You mean besides the question you just asked?" Trevor asked teasingly in return, earning him a harsh glare and he raised his hands in surrender. "Alright, alright. What is it?" He chuckled. Sypha bit her lip for a second. "Do you think Lucy is genuine in this quest?" She asked, making both Trevor and Adrian look at her in confusion. "What makes you say that?" Trevor asked slowly, completely serious now 

"There was a man in Gresit when I got the wagon. He told me I should've left with my family and that if I continue to trust Lucy, I'll end up dead with a knife in my back." She confessed and Trevor quickly groaned at hearing it. "Let me guess: black hair, blue eyes, rather expensive looking clothes, intimidating build and an air of superiority?" He guessed and Sypha immediately nodded in answer. "Exactly. Do you know him?" She asked. 

Met him once when Lucy and I first started travelling together. Gave me the same kind of warning as he did you apparently. "Don't trust her. Leave her behind while you can. You'll die if you go with her." I told him to shut the fuck up and leave us alone. Let me tell you one thing: I've been travelling with her for five years and I'm still here. I don't know what that guy has against Lucy, but he was clearly wrong." He assured her. 

When we were leaving the gates of Gresit, she saw something that absolutely frightened her, but she didn't say what it was and I didn't see anything. Do you think she saw that man?" Adrian asked quietly and Trevor thought for a minute. "It's possible. Maybe he was invisible to you or something." He said, not liking this at all and looking around to see if the man was somewhere in the forest. "What do you think, Alucard?" He asked and Adrian thought for a minute, looking at Lucy"You did tell him that Lucy saved your life, did you not?" He asked Sypha.

She nodded. "I did. He said it was a ploy to earn my trust." She replied. He scowled, not liking this guy. "If she was as evil as he apparently says she is, she would've killed me and my mother when we helped her all those years ago, but she didn't. I don't believe she's the monster he says she is." He says and Sypha nodded. "Me neither and I told him that." She said. Lying with her back towards the others, Lucy smiled at hearing their trust. 

The next morning, Adrian, Trevor and Sypha all woke up at the crack of dawn. Adrian went to wake Lucy up at seeing she was still sleeping, her body all hunched in on itself. Trevor quickly stopped him at seeing that she was actually and genuinely asleep. "Let her sleep, Alucard. She doesn't get much of it as it is." He said. "But we need to move on." Adrian protested. The vampire hunter instead lifted Lucy up in his arms.

Carefully putting her down in the back of the wagon, he sighed deeply and finally turned towards Adrian. "Keep an eye on her, will you? She has nightmares sometimes." He muttered quietly and Adrian immediately nodded in answer. "I'll look after her." He promised as he climbed in the back of the wagon as well. "Huh, I guess you actually can be nice at times." Sypha commented as he joined her at the front of the wagon. "Shut up." He muttered as they put the horses into motion and they went on to the next spot

As he had promised, Adrian kept an eye on Lucy as they travelled onwards. A couple of hours into the ride, he suddenly heard her moaning quietly. "No, father. I didn't mean to." She whimpered as she tossed back-and-forth on the wooden wagon. "She has a nightmare." He spoke up. "Okay, wake her up before she hurts herself." Trevor replied, having had to deal with Lucy accidentally harming herself and him before

Adrian quickly nodded as he gently grabbed her shoulder and tried to shake her awake. "Lucy, wake up. It's just a nightmare." He said. "No, I didn't mean to. I'm sorry!" Lucy suddenly shouted as she shot up straight, accidentally giving the dhampir a big headbutt. Sypha quickly stopped the wagon as both she and Trevor looked back in worry. "Are you alright?" Trevor asked and the witch sighed as she rubbed her head.

"I'm fine. It's just a stupid nightmare of when I was kicked out." She said, harshly wiping away a few stray tears. Adrian frowned in concern. "How long ago was that?" He asked gently. "Too fucking long." She muttered. "And you've been all alone since then?" Sypha asked. "Is this some kind of therapy session? But yes, I was alone ever since then. I did stay in this one place for a while, but that place was simply hell, so I moved on." Lucy murmured. The respect Sypha and Adrian had for her grew even more at hearing that.

"Okay, let's all take a very quick break right now and stretch our legs for just a few minutes before we continue on." Trevor said loudly, even though everyone in the wagon immediately knew that he just wanted to give Lucy some time and space to completely compose herself. Agreeing with his idea nonetheless, Sypha quickly got off the wagon and walked into the surrounding forest for a small bathroom break

"Excuse me?" A soft voice suddenly asked and she jumped, readying her powers for an attack as she whirled around. A beautiful blond woman was standing there, wearing the same kind of clothing as the man from Gresit had. The woman lifted her hands in surrender at seeing the glowing balls of magic on Sypha's fingers "Who are you?" The speaker hissed. "A friend." The woman replied calmly and Sypha scoffed 

"Forgive me if I don't believe that in these times." She said in a sarcastic tone. In answer, the woman opened her mouth wide and showed her normal human teeth to the Speaker Magician. Sypha relaxed just a tiny bit at seeing that. "What do you want?" She asked. "To sincerely apologise for what my brother said to you in Gresit. He had no right to do that" The woman replied, genuinely surprising her. "Oh! Well, thank you, I guess. What does your brother have against Lucy?" She asked. The woman sighed

"That's part of a long story that i don't have time to tell you. I need to be back before they notice I'm gone. Let's just say that my brother and Lucy were very close once. It's true." She added at seeing Sypha's very sceptical look. "However, when she betrayed everything her family stood for and was cast out, no one took it harder than he did. We didn't see him for a long time and when he returned, he was different." She explained.

"Hey, Sypha! Did your robe get stuck on an branch or something?!" They heard Trevor shout. "Don't tell Lucy about this. I don't think she wants to see me. I believe she's capable of helping you. Follow your heart." The woman said, before disappearing into the forest. Going to the bathroom, Sypha walked back to the others. "There were many nettles there. I had to find a safe spot." She grumbled and they conceded as they went on

Throughout the day, everyone kept an eye on Lucy as she just leaned back and didn't say much as they rode on. About halfway through the day, Adrian jumped slightly when she suddenly leaned against him tiredly and closed her eyes, seeking some comfort and he carefully wrapped an arm around her, pulling her closer to him. She gave him a slight smile in gratitude, before taking a deep breath and closing her eyes again. She didn't sleep anymore, but she did rest for quite a while. That night, Lucy went to hunt as the others got the fire ready.

"So, you said you and Lucy have travelled for five years. How did you meet?" Sypha asked Trevor. "Oh, she once saved my life from some priests who decided to end the Belmont line once and for all. We started bickering about how I was supposed to thank her and by the time we stopped, a few weeks had already passed and I had gotten used to having her around." He confessed, earning chuckles from both Sypha and even Adrian 

"What's so funny?" Lucy asked as she dragged a dead deer into the clearing. "Speak of the devil. We were talking about how you and I met." Trevor explained. "You still haven't thanked me for that or any other time I saved your life." She said with a laugh. They all chuckled as Trevor skinned the deer and they ate after cooking it. "I'm still not completely clear on why you don't catch fire in the daylight." Sypha eventually commented to Adrian 

"I'm half-human. My mother's name was Lisa and she was mortal." Adrian slowly explained, feeling Lucy put a comforting hand on his shoulder and giving her the same grateful smile as she had given him that afternoon. "I would love to hear the story of how _that_ happened." Sypha said carefully, watching his reaction. "Well, when a woman and a vampire love each other very much." Lucy started in Adrian's stead and Sypha immediately blushed. "I didn't mean it like that." She protested and everyone laughed, including the dhampir. 

"She actually showed up at his front door. She found the castle and banged the door with the pommel of her knife." Adrian started to tell. "And then she gave him a lesson in manners." Lucy spoke up. "How do you know that?" Adrian asked with a raised eyebrow. "Oh, wow! She actually did it?! I was just kidding." She replied in surprise, making everyone laugh again. "She sounds interesting." Sypha said with a small chuckle

"You know, I would barely believe the woman I met would do that, but then I really think back and I can totally believe it." Lucy commented with a laugh of her own. "Oh, she was indeed remarkable. She beat on the door, until my father let her in and then demanded he teach her how to be a doctor." Adrian continued and Trevor sat up at that. "Wait, Dracula taught a human woman how to be a doctor?" He asked.

"What was first? Blood-letting?" He asked with a scoff, only to immediately get a hump of snow thrown at him by an angry Lucy. "God, you still think you're funny." Adrian sneered, glaring at the vampire hunter. "How does Dracula get these monsters? Are they born? Are they created?" Sypha asked. "The latter. He has devil forgemasters in his castle. They take the bodies of his victims and put a soul out of hell in it, transforming them into the night creatures" Adrian explained. "Wouldn't Lucifer notice it if souls left hell?" Sypha asked and Lucy snorted.

"Oh, yeah. Because the devil does rolecall every morning. 1 million demons, 2 million demons, 3 million demons. Wait a minute.... we're missing someone. Where's Jimmy?" She said, making the others chuckle again and making the slight tension disappear. "My father is a man of science. A philosopher, a scholar and knows things or society have forgotten three times over." Adrian said, getting the subject back on track.

Lucy sat back and listened to Adrian talking about how his father had gone mad. "Shame." Trevor muttered sarcastically and got another hump of snow thrown at him, this time by Sypha. Adrian talked about how his father could've changed the world if his mother hadn't died. "She'd sent him away. That's why he wasn't there when the bishops took her." He said, his voice deep and sad because of the memory. 

"I wish I had been there. Give those corrupted priests a piece of my mind." Lucy growled, leaning against Adrian and he smiled at her. "Well, you did very likely make that bishop pee his robes." Trevor commented and she chuckled coldly. "I guess I did. It's a shame I didn't see his face when he read the paper I left him." She said. "What was on it?" Sypha asked. "The truth of what I am." Lucy answered. "I guess that old bastard was shocked to know there was a real witch in the church." The Speaker said with a laugh. 

"So, she sent him away?" Sypha then asked Adrian. "She sent him to travel. To learn the true state of the world, the true nature of humans and how they live." Adrian told them. "Been there, done that." Lucy said with a small smirk. They talked for a while longer and Adrian told them of what Dracula was planning to do to eradicate humans and even Lucy was horrified at the prospect. That's when they heard something. 

Realising that night creatures were approaching them, they doused the fire and got ready for a fight. "What's the nearest town? Is it still Gresit?" Trevor asked. "Arges is closer to us." Sypha answered. Splitting up Lucy and Adrian went to face them, pulling their swords. "No further." Adrian said, before they went to attack. They fought them for a few minutes with help from Trevor, when a huge monster managed to grab Adrian.

"Alucard!" Trevor shouted, when a red flash shot past him. Lucy quickly ran to the monster as fast as she could and jumped up with her eyes closed. She floated in front of it and suddenly opened her eyes, her irises glowing red like Dracula's. The monster stiffened up and started to walk backwards as Lucy grabbed Adrian and pulled him out of its grasp. _"BOOOOOO!!!!!"_ She screeched and the monster ran away, skin burning even though she hadn't touched it. "What was that about?" Sypha asked in shock as Trevor tried to kill it, but failed.

"No one's going to Arges tonight." Lucy said calmly as she put Adrian down and landed as well, her eyes going back to blue. "We need to get to the Belmont hold. That creature is no doubt going back to Dracula and once they know we're here, they might cut us off." She ordered, walking back to the wagon. Adrian and Sypha looked at Trevor who shrugged. "It's a long story." He said, before they followed Lucy to the wagon

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Read and review. See you next time


	10. Truths and reveals

Disclaimer: I don't own anything that you recognise 

In Dracula's castle, forgemaster Isaac looked over the night creature that had fled from Lucy, having died of its burning wounds at arrival. "What kind of creature could do something like this?" He wondered out loud, readying his dagger to bring it back to life after talking to one of the vampire generals Godbrand. Bringing it back to life, he listened to its story of what had happened, frowning in confusion about one particular part

Walking back to the throne room, he saw the generals squabbling with each other like always, Dracula simply looking over the chaos from his throne with an almost tired expression. "We have to accept that we've lost the party sent to Arges." Godbrand said as Isaac entered the room. "Taking Arges is bloodshed for its own sake. There's no strategy here." Fellow forgemaster Hector argued. "Arges has no real importance. You should've counselled an attack on Braila." Another vampire named Carmilla spoke up in a bored tone. 

After an entire discussion about whether or not running water hurt vampires and what counted as running water, Isaac told everyone what the beast had told him. "I must disclose that I revived the creature that returned. The party was attacked on the road. Their assailants are unknown, but Arges is close to Gresit. We are quite certain that Alucard sleeps at Gresit. And that there was recently a Belmont there." He said. 

Shocked looks were immediately seen all around the room at this news. "A Belmont? I thought they were extinct." Carmilla said with a scoff. "No. We believe our lord's son, Alucard and the Belmont may have worked together to repel our forces at Gresit." Isaac said. "If there is a Belmont alive, then should we not observe the ancestral Belmont home?" Carmilla asked, the rather dim Godbrand asking her why

"Perhaps on the general notion that the Belmonts hunted the likes of us for fucking centuries. And if there's one left alive, then it may have access to the trove of weapons and magical materials talked of across generations but never found, which they used to hunt us through fucking centuries. Am I making myself clear now?" Carmilla spat, getting right into his face. "There was one other thing the creature talked about, but I'm afraid I have to ask your advice, lord Dracula, because i don't know what to make of it." Isaac confessed.

"What is it, isaac?" Dracula asked slowly from where he had stood up from his throne, getting himself over the notion that his son was coming this way with a Belmont. "Apparently, there was one other person with your son and the Belmont while fighting the party sent to Arges. She's apparently the one responsible for its injuries and it barely dared to speak of her. I could only get a title: "the Fallen Queen." Isaac said 

If all the vampire generals in the room had looked already worried before at the mere fact that a Belmont was possibly coming their way to fight them to the death, they honestly looked downright _panicked_ now at hearing this fact. "The Fallen Queen? That's impossible. She and the Belmont should be natural enemies and fight each other, not work together to defeat our lord." Carmilla harshly spat in disbelief.

"Who is the Fallen Queen?" Hector finally asked in confusion, just as much in the dark as Isaac was at the moment. "Oh, no one important. Just one of the most powerful beings in this whole fucking universe. Someone who, if at full powers, could wipe us all out with just a blink of a fucking eye. And now, she's apparently coming here to kill us, with our lord's son and a Belmont." Carmilla said harshly. Hector and Isaac shared a brief look, now knowing that it was definitely something bad, but not entirely sure who this Fallen Queen was

One of the other vampire generals, Cho saw the look and decided to elaborate, moving gracefully through the air as she started to explain why exactly this was a big deal for their cause and the war. "Once the most beloved of all her siblings, she fell into both pride and darkness and wa ultimately banished from her home until the end of time." She started, the human forgemasters listening to her every word

"Ruling her own kingdom for a while, her father decided to give her a different punishment and ever since then, she wanders the lands all alone amongst the humans her father created and she corrupted until the earth has finally stopped spinning." She finished. Isaac frowned again, but Hector, who had lived with Catholic, abusive parents, knew exactly who she was talking about and paled in fear. 

"Surely, you can't mean......."

\---------------

Riding through the forest, Trevor suddenly recognised a completely dead and broken tree next to the road. "There. That's my tree. I used to play in that tree. We're nearly at the house." He said, Lucy briefly peeking out from behind the covers to look at it. "It's hard to imagine you playing." Sypha muttered and Lucy chuckled dryly as she went back into the wagon. "Yeah. I suppose so. But it was everything, that tree. It was my house and my boat and my fort. Anything I wanted it to be." Trevor said in a melancholy voice.

Not for the first time, Lucy wanted to go to hell and punish those responsible for killing her friend's family and forcing him to grow up so fast. They arrived at the ruins of what clearly had been a great mansion once upon a time. Trevor jumped off the wagon and took a deep breath, before feeling a gentle hand in his back. Turning to see Lucy giving him a worried look, he nodded at her in gratitude as they walked towards it.

"It's at moments like this that I really regret giving her that apple." Lucy muttered, both of them knowing exactly what she was talking about. "This was your home? You grew up here?" Sypha asked as they lit torches in the darkness of the night and Trevor confirmed it. "I can't imagine what it was like to grow up in a single place." She commented. "It was.... it was fine. Wasn't the worst way to grow up" he answered

Lucy stayed next to him in moral support. "How old were you when your family home was taken?" Adrian asked as he looked around the ruined home. "Thirteen, 14, something like that." Trevor answered, feeling his friend squeeze his shoulder and seeing the look of guilt on her face. Even if she hadn't been involved in it, she still felt indirectly responsible for it happening in the first place "You've been on your own since you were thirteen?" Sypha asked in horror. "Maybe 12, until Lucy came along. Who remembers that sort of thing?" Trevor asked 

"Twelve." Adrian muttered, Trevor asking if there was a point to the questions. "I'm disturbed to find I had more of a childhood than you did." Adrian said. "And your dad's fucking Dracula." Trevor muttered, making them all laugh despite the heavy subject. Going on, Trevor eventually found something underneath the rubble. "I think this is it." He said, giving his torch to Lucy and starting to lift the first stone away with difficulty 

"Your hidden entrance looks like a hearthstone." Adrian commented. "Just help me clear it." Trevor grunted. Being half-vampire, Adrian easily tossed away the remaining blocks with just one hand while the others stared, Lucy giving Trevor his torch back without looking away and he was done in just a few seconds. "Congratulations. You've discovered a big piece of stone." Adrian said sarcastically once the rocks were gone.

Rubbing her slightly red cheeks, Lucy kneeled next to the golden stone while the others discussed on how to get into the hold. "Enochian letters." She said, making Sypha look at it as well. "You're right. I've never met anyone outside my family who knows that language." She said and Lucy grinned as Adrian looked very impressed. Explaining how the trick to opening the door was likely passed down through generations, Sypha told them to stand back and they did. Chanting in the language, She managed to use her magic to open the door.

As they walked down the stairs, Lucy turned Sypha. "Wanna finally tell me the real reason you took so long to pee, yesterday?" She asked and Sypha stumbled. "I told you. There were nettles." She said and the other woman simply raised an eyebrow. "You better tell the truth, Sypha. Lucy always knows when you're lying." Trevor commented and she sighed. "Alright then." She said, before telling them about her encounters.

"A woman with blonde hair and golden brown eyes, you say?" Lucy asked with a smile. "Yes. You know her?" Sypha asked and Lucy chuckled. "Better than almost anyone. Congratulations Sypha, you're actually the second woman in history to have a very private meeting with my little sister. That being said: she didn't say anything about a miracle birth to you, did she?" She suddenly asked and Sypha shook her head in answer 

"Oh, good. At least we don't have to go through that mess again." Lucy muttered as they went on further, ignoring the very confused look that Sypha and Adrian shared with each other. "Wait, if she's your sister, then the guy I met in Gresit is your brother." Sypha suddenly realised. "Yeah. My older brother Michael." Lucy said, her tone indicating that she didn't want to talk about it and they quickly shut up. As they walked further into the hold, Trevor explained about how his family had originally moved here from France. "Moved or chased?" Adrian asked.

"Moved. Thank you very much." Trevor replied, but that didn't stop the Dhampir from making snide comments as they went further down and finally opened the door to the hold. Arriving in the dark room, Sypha used her powers to light the candles. "Wow." Lucy breathed in awe at seeing the huge room. Shelves upon shelves upon shelves filled the room, themselves filled with all kinds of books, artifacts, trophies and weapons.

"This is amazing. I could spend the rest of eternity in this entire room and still not manage to read and see everything." Lucy said as she looked around the room, Trevor smirking at actually having managed to impress her. "The memory of my family. All that's left of us." Trevor muttered as he walked down another staircase. "Is it organised? Is there a way to find things?" Sypha asked as they followed him

"I imagine one sacrifices a chicken and divines the location of the book you want from the intestines. Maybe Belmont has a crystal ball you can ask " Adrian said dryly, Trevor shooting a "shut up" in return. Adrian continued to make disparaging remarks about the hold and Lucy saw her friend close up. Having had enough, yet wincing in advance at knowing what was coming, she cuffed the Dhampir at the back of his head. This effectively shut him up as he whirled around. "Why did you do that?" He asked, rubbing his head.

"I know they were dangerous monster hunters, Adrian, but it's because of them that we may have information to save the world. Do you think you can have a tiny bit of respect for the dead?" Lucy asked in return, rubbing the back of her own head and Trevor noticed this, but didn't say anything yet. The dhampir grumbled and huffed, but shut up for now. "Thank you." Trevor mouthed at Lucy, who winked at him in return.

While Trevor and Sypha went to a shelf with potions and other things, Lucy noticed Adrian going another way and followed him. "What was Leon Belmont doing in Wallachia?" Sypha askedy as she and Trevor noticed where Adrian and Lucy had gone to: a glass cabinet with vampire skulls, including a very small one. Lucy had seen many things in her long life, but she didn't want to think of the things that tiny skull implied.

"Killing Dracula." The Dhampir answered the question and silence fell. Lucy looked down for a second, before noticing a painting hanging on the wall of the Archangel Michael bringing down Lucifer and stared at it, the painting bringing back very bad memories. While that was happening Trevor noticed a chest behind a collapsed wall, getting it out and kneeling down. "Lucy, can you help with this?" He asked, snapping her out of her thoughts. "Uh, yes." She said, kneeling down next to him and melting the lock

Opening it after thanking his friend, Trevor loudly breathed in awe as he got a beautiful iron whip from it. "Oohh, pretty. Does it have a name?" Sypha asked. "Of course. It's the...eh... never mind." Trevor suddenly stumbled and backtracked "No, Belmont. Tell us its name." Adrian said, incredibly curious now. Looking down, Trevor muttered something unintelligible. "What?" Lucy asked. "It's the Morningstar." He said louder.

"Well, was that so hard? What do you think, Lucy? Lucy?" Sypha asked, frowning in confusion at seeing her friend getting very red in the face as she clearly tried to keep her laughter in. Taking deep breaths to be able to talk, Lucy carefully put a hand on her friend's shoulder. "Trevor, I first want to say that.... I'm flattered." She said, before cracking up completely. "I didn't name it." Trevor protested, but she didn't care.

"Why would you be flattered?" Adrian asked and Lucy calmed down, sharing a look with Trevor. "You might as well tell them. We might die soon." He said and Lucy sighed, before turning to the others. "Do you know how I manage to fly in the air or how I scared that demon away?" She asked as she went to stand in front of the painting. They shook their heads. "I scared it, because it knows well what I'm capable of if Father had not taken most of my powers away. As for flying in the air, I've got these things to thank for that." She said, pointing at her back. 

Adrian and Sypha frowned in confusion, until Lucy suddenly started to glow a bit and on the wall and the painting behind her appeared the shadows of two wings spreading themselves out. Trevor was smirking at them as the Speaker and Dhampir stared with their jaws dropped to the ground. "You're not a witch. You're an angel." Sypha breathed and Lucy chuckled coldly. "Oh no. I haven't been called that in a long time." She said

"Why not?" Adrian asked, but Sypha thought deeply. "Wait a minute. The fire powers, the story of you being cast out of your home, scaring the demon, Micheal's warning." She summed up, starting to pale. "The fact that "Mane" and "Stella" literally mean "morning" and "star" in Latin." Trevor piped up, loving that part. Lucy literally told people who she was at meeting them. Sypha slowly backed up in fear as she looked between Lucy and the painting 

"You're Lucifer."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There we go!
> 
> Read and review. See you next time


	11. Reading and talking

Disclaimer: I don't own anything that you recognise 

"Sypha? Sypha, wake up."

Sypha slowly woke up with a groan, finding herself lying on a couch in the hold with a worried Adrian and Trevor hovering over her. "What happened?" She asked. "You kinda fainted when you found out who Lucy really was." Trevor explained sheepishly. "Well, you would too if you found out you were travelling with the actual devil." She muttered as she slowly sat up, before noticing said devil wasn't there. 

"Where is she now?" She asked, looking around the huge room and not seeing her anywhere. "She's somewhere around here, looking at the books. She decided to give you space after you woke up." Adrian replied and Sypha immediately felt slightly guilty. Even now, Lucy was looking out for her, despite her less than stellar reaction to finding out her true identity. The woman telling her to give Lucy a chance made a lot more sense, but so did Michael's warning about not trusting her. "Trevor, how did you react?" She asked

"Well, we had been traveling for several months and she cleverly waited until I was drunk to tell me. When I was sober again, I said "I had the craziest dream that you said you were the devil." And she said "I am." And then..... I fainted as well." He admitted and both Sypha and Adrian chuckled. "As I said around the campfire, I've been traveling with her for years and I'm still here." He continued 

"Lucy's saved my life many times over while she could've let me die just as many times. I know she's the devil, but she's not the epitome of evil anymore." He finished and Sypha nodded, before looking at Adrian. "What about you?" She asked. "I knew she was around us. My father told me about how Lucifer was banished again from hell to earth and had to live among the humans forever. I just never thought it was Lucy." He said

"As long as she continues on like this and doesn't stab any of us in the back, I'll trust her." He continued and Sypha nodded again, deciding to give her a chance. Standing up and walking towards the painting from before, she looked at it in a different light as she now knew the falling man with the horns on his head was actually the same woman she had traveled with in the past few days. "I look ridiculous, don't I?" Lucy's voice asked from behind her, making her jump and whirl around to see her standing several feet away from her. 

"I mean: just look at it. Micheal honestly looks more like a woman than I do and what kind of face is that?" She asked, before mockingly trying to imitate the face the devil on the painting made and a brief laugh escaped Sypha before she could stop it. It was then that she realised that Lucy was still the very same person as she had been ever since she had saved her from the cyclops 

"Why does everyone think you're a man?" She asked. "No idea. From what I heard, they think the same thing of Gabriel, the woman you met. I bet that annoys her to no end." Lucy replied as she slowly walked closer, still making sure to keep her distance and to leave Sypha enough room to get away. "Oh, now I get the miracle birth comment." Sypha said with a chuckle as she realised who Lucy had been talking about. 

Lucy herself showed a grin as well. "Yeah, that was a right fucking mess, let me tell you. It honestly took me ages to get the status quo back up again after He died and not long after that, dear old Dad decided to give me a new punishment by making me live here among you instead, which actually worked much better than sending me to hell in the first place. In hell, there's nothing but negativity, hate and sin to draw on. Here's that too, but there's also loyalty, forgiveness.... love." She explained, thinking of one person in particular 

Sypha had a small smile on her face. Trevor was right. Lucy really had changed. "What does heaven look like?" She asked curiously. "When I left, it looked like a magnificent garden. Not sure if they changed it in the meantime. I hope you'll see it for yourself one day, even if I can't." Lucy said sincerely, making Sypha beam at her before Trevor interrupted and asked if he could speak to Lucy in private

"So, is there any reason you rubbed the back of your head at the same time as Adrian after you hit him there?" He asked once they were alone and Lucy immediately sighed in answer. When Trevor wasn't incredibly drunk, he was as sharp as the whips he carried. "Remember what I told you about an angel's Mate? The most important person in their lives?" She asked quietly. 

He widened his eyes in answer as he immediately understood what she was implying. "Are you saying that Alucard is your Mate?" He asked and she quickly made a face that told him that it was exactly what she was saying. "I thought your Mate could see your wings." He said in confusion. "He can, but i first need to allow it and I'm not going to do that just yet. Not until after I tell him the truth." She answered. "And when are you going to do that?" He asked. "When we survive." She confessed, before chuckling mirthlessly

"Seems typical, doesn't it? I find my Mate as we're preparing to fight a battle of life and death. Just my luck. This is so going to hurt. Especially since I'll feel the pain he does. Ever since the connection sprang into existence, I've felt nothing but pain, sadness and loss from him, which is I think why I try so hard to make you all laugh, even for a few minutes" She muttered and Trevor patted her on the back on sympathy.

Walking back to where the others were, they found Sypha quietly gushing over the index book. "It's all here. You're right. This is quite amazing. Isn't it? It's amazing." She said, turning around towards Adrian who was once again looking at the skulls."Charming." The Dhampir said with absolutely no sincerity in his voice. "You're not even a little bit impressed?" Sypha asked.

Lucy looked past her and immediately winced at seeing what he was looking at again. "Sypha, he's currently looking at vampire skulls. It would be like a vampire showing you a museum full of human remains and asking you if it's amazing or if you're impressed ." She said quietly and to her credit, the female Speaker immediately understood what was wrong and apologised for her words. Adrian walked away from the cabinet and gave Lucy a short nod in gratitude for sparing him from having to explain it himself. 

They spent quite a long time looking around and reading several books, trying to find the right information on how to find and lock Dracula's castle. Trevor eventually found a broken mirror standing in a dark and forgotten corner. "What the hell is this?" He asked out loud. Sypha, who was standing nearby with another book, asked if he didn't know and he immediately admitted it. 

"This is your house." She reminded him. "Do you know everything about your house?" He asked rhetorically with crossed arms as she joined him and looked at the mirror as well. "I don't have a house." She immediately answered. "She doesn't have a house. She's a Speaker. She's a nomad." Adrian added from where he was sitting on top of the shelf with another book

"I was rhetorical." Trevor muttered as Adrian jumped from the shelf to join them. The Dhampir was about to retort, when they heard the sound of wings coming closer and quickly whirled around to see Lucy flying towards them, seemingly floating in the air without any help whatsoever as she flew over and landed next to them. "Right, angels have wings." Sypha reminded herself. Lucy managing to stop their fall made sense now too. "Where were you?" Trevor asked. "Outside for a bathroom break. Why? What did I miss?" She asked

"I found this mirror, but I don't know what it is." Trevor immediately admitted, gesturing to said mirror and Lucy inspected it. "Seems like a distance mirror, but i haven't seen one of them in a while." She said and Adrian agreed as he inspected the mirror as well, standing right next to her and explaining that some of those mirrors could allow matter to go through them, but that this wasn't one of them

"A little of the activating language is chipped. A few of the runes need recutting, but it's workable. "You have the most fascinating family junkyard, Belmont." He commented and Lucy immediately facepalmed. "You're a cockwart, Alucard." Trevor spat, before getting pulled away by Sypha. "Do you have to taunt him every time? Be happy he's willing to help." Lucy scolded Adrian as she heard Sypha scold her friend. 

Adrian glared at her, but didn't say anything as he turned back towards the mirror. She let out a frustrated sigh, having to remind herself that despite looking like an adult, he was still a teenager at most mentally. He had told her before that his parents had met twenty years before, so his birth had to be somewhere in those twenty years. He may have been old enough for her instinct to recognise him as her Mate, unlike the first time they met, but he wasn't fully mature yet. Devil and Dhampir both turned around at hearing Trevor and Sypha laugh about something.

"Well, at least they're having fun." Lucy muttered. They went on after that and Trevor found himself sitting against an chest with a blanket and offered the spot next to him to Sypha when she admitted to feeling tired and lonely. "Are Alucard and Lucy asleep?" "He said he's slept enough. He's still poking around your family's things with a look of faint disgust on his face. Lucy's currently keeping an eye on him." She continued and he made a sound of understanding.

"It's lonely when you're standing next to either of them. It's strange." She commented. "How so?" He asked in return and she sighed deeply. "I'm not sure. They're both intelligent and even witty in their own way, especially Lucy as she's been around humans the most and knows how to joke like one. She plays it off like it's nothing, but I just know that the separation from heaven and her family hurts that she's tired." She said

"Angels don't really need sleep." Trevor said and she chuckled. "Maybe not physically, but mentally she's tired of being alone and having people die around her while she continues on without getting to apologise. "And Alucard. He's certainly half-human. More than half-human. He's a person in his own right, but it's like he's a cold spot in the room. It's not like your or Lucy's sadness." She said "I'm not sad." Trevor protested. "Yes, you are. But I can shout at you and tease you and get a reaction to let me know you're still in there." Sypha said

His sadness is like an icy well. It's bottomless and it swallows up your voice and anything you drop in it" She said. "Am I really sad?" Trevor asked. "All the time. You don't even notice it anymore. An then, sometimes, you tell me that no one's lonely in your house and offer me your smelly blanket." She said with a small laugh. Trevor tried to tell her that the smell might not be the blanket, but she was already asleep.

Lucy was watching Adrian reading the index despite being tired. "I'm capable of doing this alone." He said. "I know, but no one should be alone even if they feel its better. Trust me. I know all about it." She said. He turned at that. "I guess you do." He said as he sat down next to her. "Could you tell me about your mother? I'd like to know more about her." She asked. He agreed and started to talk. It was his voice that lulled her to sleep better than anything ever had

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> https://www.google.com/search?q=michael+and+lucifer&client=tablet-android-samsung-nf-rev1&source=android-browser&prmd=inv&sxsrf=ALeKk039PLAg52FYOfXX5Q3Mn5-CbO3_YA:1610297308186&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiFwKX46JHuAhUEaBoKHf9CCAUQ_AUoAXoECAcQAQ&biw=1138&bih=712&dpr=2.25#imgrc=HoTHO4GyWkcDSM ( the painting i had in mind)
> 
> Read and review. See you next time


	12. More reading and explanations

Disclaimer: I don't own anything that you recognise

_The next morning_

Lucy woke up all alone, but with Adrian's coat over her body like a blanket. Face completely red, she stood up and flew up to find him. She quickly found him reading a book nearby and briefly looked him over, despite literally having seen him shirtless. "Sorry for falling asleep on you as you were telling your story. That was not very nice of me." She apologised, giving him his coat back. 

He let out a tiny chuckle as he briefly put the book away for a moment, took his coat over from her and put it on again. "That's quite alright. You were very clearly tired. Did you sleep well?" He asked with a smile on his face as he grabbed the book again and opened it. "I actually did, yes. I think this is the first time I've slept without any nightmares in a while." She answered, rubbing the back of her head and hissing slightly as her fingers snagged some tangles in her red hair. Adrian chuckled as she furiously tried to untangle them.

"I didn't know Angels actually needed sleep." He commented curiously. "We usually don't, but humans can unfortunately be rather perceptive when they really want to be and some people noticed that i didn't sleep after a while, so I needed to teach myself how to sleep so I could go unnoticed and now, I actually like to do it if I don't have nightmares." She answered and he nodded

"Have you noticed something happening between Belmont and Sypha? They were sleeping together this morning." He said quietly and she immediately gave him a look in answer. "Not like that." He quickly added at realising exactly how his words could be interpreted. "Well, in that case: I do notice that Trevor is slowly getting nicer to her and caught him looking at her at times." She commented

"And that doesn't bother you in the slightest?" He asked, tilting his head. "I'm just his friend, Adrian. I've travelled with him for at least five years now and I've honestly never seen him like this. You've seen the broken ruins upstairs and what the church has done to him and his family. If he's actually managed to find someone who could make him happier than he is with my friendship, then who am I to complain about it? That if, if she returns the feeling." She replied sincerely, grabbing another book and reading it as well. 

They eventually joined Sypha next to another shelf and grabbed some more books to read. "You know, for coming from an oral, memory based culture, you're very good with books." Lucy commented teasingly, giving Sypha a careful nudge and the other woman chuckled. "It would have been a poor education if we hadn't been taught to read things to add to our memory stores." She replied 

Continuing on for a few seconds, Sypha sighed deeply in slight frustration. "But I am coming to the conclusion that my people are idiots and we should have written everything down." She continued. "Everything?" Adrian asked. "Yes. All the things. Look at this. There's more in this room than a million Speakers could carry across two generations." Sypha explained, gesturing around the room. 

"Lucy said it herself that she could spend the whole of eternity here and not read everything that this entire place holds and she can actually do that, unlike me." She continued and Lucy immediately chuckled in answer. "And the shear breadth of information about the Castle is staggering." Sypha continued to gush as she grabbed another book from the shelf. "Careful, Sypha or Trevor will hear you and become even more unbearable." Lucy warned and they chuckled as well, before Adrian wondered how much of the info was useful. 

"Well, I do have some questions about Trevor's ancestors. I discovered an entire box of spells about....penises." Sypha whispered to them. "Oh, really? I must find that box then. You never know if there's maybe a dick-shrinking spell in there that I can use on men who don't take a hint." Lucy said in interest with a smirk on her face. Rapists were one of her personal pet-peeves

"You're certain it was one of his ancestors? You didn't find it under his childhood bed?" Adrian asked after pulling a disturbed face. "And you wonder why Trevor doesn't like you." Lucy muttered, smacking him on the arm. "Stop testing him, Alucard." Sypha scolded him as well. "I am concerned that I've thrown my lot in with a demented infant." Adrian said, ignoring Lucy's glare. When Adrian continued to insult Trevor, Lucy rolled her eyes and flew away with some books.

Landing next to where Trevor was sitting at ground level, she immediately sat down next to him with a very deep sigh. "Alucard's insulting me again, isn't he?" He asked, knowing her well enough to know she was very frustrated. "Yes he is. Why, oh why did father decide to make a teenager my Mate?" She muttered in answer. "Teenager? He looks much older than that." Trevor commented in confusion. "Physically yes, but he's like nineteen years old at most mentally, depending on how long it took for his parents to marry." She explained.

"Huh. That explains a lot." He said as they continued reading. "Still complaining." She muttered after a few minutes as Sypha and Adrian walked by on a higher level. "I really don't need to know it." He muttered and she smirked. "Well, Sypha is defending you." She said, before noticing something on another level and straightening up. "Hang on. I'll be right back." She said, before flying up.

He saw her go to the angel statues on a different level, stay there for a few seconds and then flying around the room to seemingly see if she could find more anywhere. Even Sypha and Adrian noticed what she was doing after the latter had gotten a revelation and went to the railing. "Clear." She said as she eventually landed next to Trevor again. "Of what?" He asked.

"Oh, for some strange reason that even i don't know, Father created these creatures that look like weeping angel statues, but when you look away or even blink, they'll attack and kill you." She explained as Sypha and Adrian joined them "Why would He create such a thing?" Sypha asked in absolute horror at the thought. "Beats me. I mean: Gabriel created the platypus just to mess with Raphael for fun, but killer angel statues are something else entirely." Lucy admitted. There was silence for a few minutes as the thought sank in.

"Hey, Lucy. I was wondering something. Do Angels fall in love?" Sypha asked. Lucy stiffened slightly in answer and noticed Trevor hiding his smile behind his book. "We can, but not in the way humans do. There's someone, a soul for every angel on earth. We call it an angel's Mate. When the angel finds their Mate, it can go either really well or really badly. An angel can choose about whether or not they'll grow closer to their Mate." She started. 

"They can leave their Mate alone and let them choose about whether or not they want to Bond with the angel, but they will not go into a relationship without explicit consent and once they're Bonded, there's no way back. The Mate will become absolutely everything for them, their rock, their pillar, their centre their entire reason for existing." She continued, looking down at her book. 

"That sounds beautiful." Sypha commented. "Well, it has its downsides. If a Mate gets hurt, the angel will feel their pain themselves. From the littlest pinprick to a cut from a blade, the angel will feel it completely and if the Mate is still alive and they Bond while they're alive, the angel will die if their Mate dies. They'll hopefully be reunited in heaven, but it will still hurt grievously like someone ripped out their hearts." She said. "Oh, that's not nice." Sypha immediately backtracked. To cheer them up, she told them she may have found something and explained what it was.

"Written in Adamic, you say? It's been a while since I've seen this language." Lucy commented as she read the book. "I keep forgetting that you're so much older than you look." Sypha said. "Why, thank you for the compliment." Lucy said, making them all laugh. Adrian chuckled too as he looked at Lucy, who was reading the book with rapt attentionHer ocean blue eyes taking in every word as they shone in the candlelight which made her red hair seem to glow.

He felt a small flutter in his chest and frowned in confusion, before waving it away and talking to Sypha about how he grew up very fast physically. "That may explain something." She said. "What?" He asked. "Perhaps, you're just an angry teenager in an adult's body." She said, making him give her an insulted look and Lucy and Trevor burst out into laughter. "Oh, he is." Trevor said, making Adrian glare

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A small, filler chapter, but fun to write
> 
> Sorry for the "Doctor Who" reference. Couldn't help myself
> 
> Read and review. See you next time


	13. Finding the castle

Disclaimer: I don't own anything that you recognise

"Are you alright?" 

Adrian jumped and whirled around at hearing Lucy's voice to see the fallen Archangel standing a few feet away. "I'm fine. Why do you ask?" He asked in return. "Because I've called your name at least three times but you didn't answer." She answered, slowly walking closer and peeking into the book he was reading. There was a drawn picture of a goddess with golden blonde hair

One look at the book was more than enough for her to understand why he hadn't reacted to her calls at first. The goddess on the page looked just like Lisa in her golden hair and incredibly kind expression. She carefully put her hand on his shoulder as they both looked down at the picture. "I meant what I said in Gresit. She really didn't deserve her fate." She said and he looked away from her. "I don't want to talk about it." He muttered, closing the book and putting it away, before going to find a less painful book

She watched him go for a short second, before carefully speaking up. "So, you're gonna lock it inside yourself for the rest of your days? Because that won't work." She commented. "You know nothing about this!" Adrian hissed. "Don't I? Do you think I didn't bottle things up after I was cast out. That I didn't lock my feelings away when I was forced into hell?" She asked

"Because I did and it only made things worse for myself and those around me. Those negative feelings will eventually rot you from the inside out, until you don't see the light anymore and forget what you were originally fighting for." She continued and he stared at her as he realised she really did know how it felt. She sighed deeply. "Who am I kidding? You probably won't listen anyway." She muttered 

He looked at her and carefully stepped forwards, gently taking her into his arms for a hug. "I am listening, Lucy. However, I cannot break down now. Not when we have to defeat my father and save humanity." He said as she briefly stiffened up in surprise at being hugged by him, before relaxing and hugging him back. "Fine, but if we fight your father and we somehow manage to win, you promise that you'll let go." She said and he gave her a very brittle smile in return. "I promise, Lucy. If we survive." He replied 

She immediately smiled at his words as she briefly closed her eyes, something inside her body positively purring at finally being held by her actual Mate. Adrian found that he didn't mind hugging the Archangel either as it gave him a kind of comfort that he hadn't had in a year. He felt something touch his back, but quickly realised those were probably her wings.

He eventually pulled back from the hug and briefly smiled at her, before letting go and going back to read and she did the same, although he noticed that she still kept an eye on him every now and then. However, rather than be annoyed by it, he actually felt quite touched in a way he couldn't explain. He shook his head and continued to read. He'd figure that bit out later

They suddenly heard Sypha loudly call out for Trevor and quickly walked towards where she was standing on another level. Apparently, she had finally found something in those countless books. "I think I've found a locking spell. Your family has an entire literature about the castle. They tried for centuries to eliminate its main advantage. It transports through magical means." She said as Adrian, Lucy and Trevor joined her. "Right. So you can't attack it if it jumps somewhere else." Trevor agreed as it made sense

"Yes. Some clever Belmont eventually formulated most of a locking spell. A method to catch the castle and lock it down to a single location so that it can be invaded." Sypha continued as Adrian listened while deep in thought and Lucy jumped down to read the book Sypha had over her shoulder. "Most of it." Adrian repeated and he was right. 

They would probably need all of the spell if they wanted to succeed in this. "I can finish the final clauses of it myself. It's all based on Adamical structures" Sypha defended herself. "You keep saying that word." Adrian muttered as he joined them. "Adamic is the original human language. Spoken by Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden, until someone got them kicked out." Sypha explained, nudging Lucy

"It would have happened anyway some day. If not with them, then with their children or grandchildren." She said dryly, crossing her arms unconsciously to make a rather defensive pose. Seeing that this was not a subject to joke about, Sypha quickly continued on. "Adamic was eventually split into all the other languages at the Tower of Babel by god to prevent human cooperation." She went on and Trevor, Adrian and even Lucy gave her rather sceptical looks at that. "Is that how you understand the story?" Adrian asked

"Oh, yes. We Speakers are enemies of God." Sypha said and Lucy chuckled. "No, you're not. Trust me. I should know." She said and Sypha briefly fell quiet as she once more realised that she was talking to Lucifer of all people..... or angels. "But its true. We live in cooperation and hide our secrets within ourselves so He cannot strike them down in jealousy" She protested, before a boom was heard. 

"See? God hates me." Sypha insisted as the entire hold started to shake more and more as something was trying to get in. "That's probably not dear old Dad." Lucy commented as she and Trevor got ready Having ruled hell, giving orders came like second nature to Lucy. "Sypha, finish that spell. Adrian, assist her in any way you can. Trevor and I will take care of our visitors." She said and they all agreed. 

Wrapping her arms underneath her friend's arms, Lucy immediately jumped and flew them both upstairs. "You don't think you can scare these away?" He asked. "That one was caught by surprise. There's no doubt that these ones have been sent to us knowing that I'm with you." She replied and he nodded as they got ready. "Can we block the door?" He asked. "I really don't think that would work." She replied, before concentrating for a moment. "I count at least six." She said and he nodded as she pulled her sword and lit it up

Trevor grabbed the aptly named whip as they waited underneath the opening for their unwelcome visitors and ascended many stairs to meet them head on. The door was finally broken open and rocks fell down. Lucy immediately pulled Trevor back from the impact. The first monster of the bunch, a huge thing with goat horns jumped down the hole, breaking many stairs and was killed by Lucy's flaming sword as she cut off its head

Even its death destroyed many stairs as it fell down and the fight continued. A humanoid creature tried to jump on Trevor, but was quickly cut in half by Lucy. A raven like creature with a face like a skeleton of a bird flew down and kept out of her reach. it didn't stay out of reach of the metal Morning Star as Trevor got it with the silver whip, making it explode.

Lucy was knocked back and hit her head as she fell down unconscious. "Lucy!" Trevor shouted as he quickly ran towards her, killing other creatures as he tried to wake her up. "A little warning would be nice." She muttered as she slowly woke up again, before using her diminished powers to heal her bleeding head. "Sorry. I now understand why I wasn't allowed to play with the whip as a child." He said as they saw a dragon like creature. "Oh, great, just what we need in a place filled with books." Lucy muttered sarcastically as they fought on

In the hold, Adrian got the scrying mirror working again and focused it on the castle as Sypha finished the spell and started to cast it. Adrian winced at hearing Lucy cry out in pain, but he needed to focus himself on this as Sypha tried to get the castle to move to their location and the castle's mechanism tried to fight her off, the chaos created by this accidentally ruining Carmilla's coup

One monster tried to attack Sypha as she got ready to use her spell but Trevor attacked it and killed it before he could as Lucy killed another monster as it tried to attack Adrian. "I don't think so." She hissed as she jumped after it and threw her sword. It immediately impaled the monster and burned it into ash. She grabbed her sword and doused the flames as Trevor killed the final monster

Sypha managed to finally get the castle to move and put it nearby. Very nearby as Lucy immediately realised, looking into the mirror. "Where did you put the castle, Sypha?" She asked slowly. "Right on top of us." She answered, before realising the same thing. "Yes. I landed it on the surface, right above this underground chamber that's only held up by wood and dirt. That was not the smartest idea" She said and Lucy gave her a look. "No fucking shit." She said as they joined Trevor and Adrian in the ruined stairway. 

Sypha created a giant pillar of ice to lift them up towards the opening to the hold as she knew Lucy couldn't carry them all up at the same time. There was silence as the four all realised that this was it. They were going to fight Dracula and there was no going back "If I may say something: if this really is the end and we die here, then I wouldn't have it any other way." Lucy said sincerely.

"Really?" Sypha asked in surprise and she nodded. "If I die, then I'll do so fighting with friends and there's no greater honour" She said and they all smiled as Trevor grabbed one of her hands, Adrian the other and Sypha put her hand on her back as they slowly reached ground level, the red moon shining on them. Lucy took a deep breath and unconsciously squeezed her Mate's hand, ready for this to end one way or another

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Read and review. See you next time


	14. Family fight

Disclaimer: I don't own anything that you recognise

Getting outside and jumping off the giant pillar of ice, Sypha immediately it into the forest, the other three giving her a look at that. "Well, I didn't want to leave it in there to melt and ruin all your beautiful books." She defended herself and Lucy had to admit it made sense. "It seems damp enough here as it is." Adrian commented, lifting his foot off the wet grass as Sypha finally noticed the huge castle standing a few feet away. 

""You did it, Sypha." Trevor said proudly and Lucy patted her on the back. "Yes, but seeing it is something else entirely. I'm pretty good right?" She asked with a smirk and Lucy smirked back as she ruffled her friend's hair. "You're the best. Alucard, are you ready for this?" Trevor asked. "No." Adrian admitted and Lucy felt her heart break. She of all people knew what it was like to fight family and she knew how much it hurt. "But let's put an end to this anyway." The Dhampir continued as they started to walk towards the castle. 

They walked in to see a mess. Vampires were attacking each other, before stopping mid-fight as they realised exactly who just walked into the doors. Lucy took a deep breath as she pulled her sword and set it alight. The flames immediately licked the blade without melting it and lighted her and her friend's faces. "I terrify them. Sypha disorients them, Alucard goes over the top and we support him. Lucy, give us cover." Trevor ordered

Lucy solemnly nodded in answer as Sypha and Adrian got ready to attack as well. "Begin." The Dhampir said calmly and they walked/ran/flew forwards and the vampires did the same as a massive fight started between them. Both Trevor and Lucy immediately made several vampire casualties as the fallen archangel cut through several soldiers like they were butter and Trevor killed many more with the Morning Star whip 

Sypha made a wall of fire to seperate the vampires from Trevor as Adrian shot forwards and jumped through the flames, turning into a wolf at the same time and killing one of the soldiers with his teeth. If Lucy had to be completely honest at that moment, the only thing telling her that this wolf was Adrian was the familiar scar on his chest and the bright golden irises as he growled at the remaining soldiers. One soldier tried to attack Adrian, but was quickly killed by both Adrian's flying sword and a furious and protective Lucy. 

Dhampir and angel shared a look as the former grabbed the hilt of his sword with his teeth and threw it at another soldier, killing it as well as he turned back to his usual self. Eventually, two teams were unconsciously formed with Adrian and Lucy on one team and Sypha and Trevor on the other as the speaker doused the flames after making icicles of the holy water that was lying around from Carmilla's failed coup. 

Soldiers weren't the only vampires in the hall as Dracula's generals were there as well. Two of them ran towards Trevor and Sypha and they both focused on one each. The one fighting Sypha dodged her icicles and when she made a very thin wall of ice, he immediately landed on it and started to run to her. He was so focused on her that he completely failed to notice the pissed off Lucy flying towards him until it was too late.

"Throw this at them! Hard to miss." Lucy ordered Sypha as the general's body fell on the ground, cut in half by Lucy's sword. Sypha broke the wall in very sharp pieces and threw them around the room, bisecting many more vampires. Trevor had won from his opponent in the meantime by forcing the business end of the Morning Star in his mouth and then kicking him towards the others. The general exploded and took several others with him. "Nice shot!" Lucy commented as she flew up again at seeing Adrian in trouble

A Japanese general had tried to throw an attack at him, but he had used his super speed and flying powers to dodge it and seemingly killed her from behind as she dissolved into smoke. Another tried to attack from above and Adrian used his sword to block her attack. A male general tried to attack him while he was distracted and without a weapon, but Lucy grabbed his cloak before he could and threw him on the ground. 

"I don't think so, you fucking bastard." She hissed venomously as she harshly stood on him and ran him through with her sword. Smoke surrounded her and a landed Adrian as it took the shape of the Japanese general, but Sypha froze her before she could attack her friends and shattered the ice, killing her once and for all. She then killed the last general with a powerful fire blast after Trevor pulled her down with the whip

Briefly catching their breath with every single vampire in the hall finally dead and gone, Lucy looked around at her friends to see if they were hurt in any way. "Everyone alright?" She asked in concern and everyone quickly nodded in answer. "Good." She said with a nod of her own, putting the flat side of her now cool sword on her shoulder. "Great appetizer." She continued and they let out very dry chuckles at the very small and final attempt at humour as they all knew the hardest fight was yet to come before them. 

They quickly continued on and somehow, in a way that neither of them could explain later, Lucy's hand was soon holding Adrian's as they ran even further into the castle. More night creatures appeared in their path and were quickly dealt with. Reaching the bottom of a winding staircase behind Dracula's throne, they saw Isaac standing there and Adrian threw his sword at him, which he barely managed to dodge. 

Isaac quickly ran to Dracula and told him his son was here. "Alucard has entered the castle?" Dracula asked. "With two women who reek of magic and power and a hunter." Isaac told him and the vampire knew that one of those women was Lucifer and the hunter had to be the Belmont. They went to his study and at seeing how willing the man was to protect him, Dracula sent him away through a magic mirror to protect him

Adrian reached the study just as the mirror turned off again and father and son looked at each other for the first time in a year after their last fight. "Father." Adrian greeted coldly. "Son." Dracula replied in the same tone. "Your war is over." Adrian hissed, narrowing his eyes. "Because you say so?" His father scoffed. "It ends in the name of my mother." The Dhampir said, tightening his grip on his sword "It endures in the name of your mother." Dracula insisted, the white of his eyes and irises completely red like blood and no pupils.

"I told you before I won't let you do it. I grieve with you, but I won't let you commit genocide." Adrian insisted, repeating the words he had said a year ago. "You couldn't stop me before." Dracula reminded him, seeing just a part of the scar he left on his son's chest peeking out from underneath his shirt. "I was alone before." Adrian replied as Lucy, Sypha and Trevor joined him as well, Lucy going to stand next to him. 

"Queen Lucifer." Dracula greeted her. "Former queen, technically. I'm not ruling anything right now." Lucy replied coldly and he immediately scoffed. "Just when I thought you couldn't fall any lower, you choose to save humanity." He sneered at her, both Trevor and to his own surprise, Adrian quickly hissing at his words as Sypha growled in anger. "Why do you want to save the earth?" The older vampire asked, ignoring their reactions 

"Because I'm one of the idiots who lives on it!" Lucy snapped, before taking a deep breath and calming down. "Yes, there are bad humans in the world and they all completely deserve to go to hell, but there are good ones too and those deserve to be protected. I see that now. I learned my lesson a long time ago, count Dracula, but it seems you never did and I will _not_ let you destroy the earth after I just found my Mate." She hissed as her sword burst into flames again, Sypha readied her magic and the guys their weapons and the fight began

Adrian attacked first and ran forwards with his sword out, pushing him back against the wall, but failing to stab him as Dracula blocked the attack line it was nothing. Blocking another attack, the older vampire hit his son on the head and knocked him into the fireplace. Lucy immediately winced and fought the urge to grab her head as she felt the pain. "Oh, this is going to suck balls." She muttered as Dracula now focused on them. 

Trevor went to attack him first, but Dracula simply tackled him out of the study and into a nearby wall so hard that the man immediately collapsed and coughed blood. That's when Sypha and Lucy attacked with fire, but the vampire's cape was apparently resistant to fire. "Speaker magician." Dracula hissed at Sypha, before he attacked them as well. Lucy barely managed to dodge the attack, but Sypha wasn't so lucky. 

She got harshly nocked into the air and landed on the ground in an unconscious heap and with claw marks on her upper arm. Immediately angered at seeing her friend injured, Lucy pushed herself off the wall and shot towards him with a loud cry of rage. He quickly dodged her attack, grabbed her throat and slammed her down on the floor. Running out of breath by his choking hold, she instinctively grabbed his wrist and something immediately started to hiss. He let out a cry and let her go, waving his burned wrist.

Immediately sitting back up, Lucy looked at her hands to see that they were glowing. Her father had given her some of her powers back. She didn't have much time to think about this as Trevor ran forwards and tried to punch Dracula in the face. If she had time, she would've facepalmed. "You must be the Belmont." Dracula deduced and Lucy briefly wondered if any of the man's ancestors had tried the same thing for the vampire to recognise him.

Dracula gave Trevor an enormous punch, lifting the man off the ground and grabbed him by the throat. "The end of your line." He said, before he got stabbed in two different places, in the arms by a standing Adrian and in the stomach by Lucy and Sypha sent a jet of fire right in his face. This forced him to let go of Trevor, before he managed to knock his attackers away, Lucy feeling both her own pain and her Mate's 

Trevor managed to stab him, but not in the right spot as Sypha used her fire power to quickly cauterise the bleeding claw marks on her arm. Both Lucy and Adrian got up again as well, the latter attacking his father again as Trevor was thrown in the air, Lucy catching him and getting knocked into Sypha in the process. The Archangel got up halfway, before letting out a sudden cry of pain and collapsing again as Dracula slammed his hands so hard on his son's neck and back that it cracked the floor underneath them

Sypha looked between her and Adrian, remembering what she said both just before the fight and back in the hold as well as her increasing protectiveness over Adrian. An angel would feel the pain of their Mate as their own. "No way." She breathed in shock. "Not a word." Lucy hissed as she got up again, realising that Sypha had figured it out as the Dhampir got knocked back again after landing one hit on his father. 

Quickly agreeing with this as this really wasn't the time to discuss this, Sypha used her magic and stuck Dracula's foot to the ground with several icicles, using the smoke of Adrian's crash as a cover as Trevor finally managed to hit the ancient vampire with the Morningstar whip, resulting in a huge explosion in the hallway. Sypha grinned, but the other three had the feeling this wasn't it and they were completely right.

"The Morningstar whip. Well played, Belmont and very ironic too. But I am no ordinary vampire to be killed by your human magics or flaming swords. I am Vlad Dracula Tepes and I have had ENOUGH!" A scratched, but mostly alright and now very pissed off Dracula shouted as he sent a ball of burning rocks towards them. Sypha stopped it from reaching them, but was slowly pushed back. Trevor literally supported her by pushing his back against hers and Adrian and Lucy pushed their swords against it. 

Together, they managed to push it back towards Dracula, Adrian and Lucy still attached to it by their swords. For just a second, Dracula was surprised, before having to catch it with his bare hands. Adrian eventually pushed even harder and with a huge explosion, he and Dracula were gone, a giant hole in the wall from where they had pushed through. Let behind Lucy looked at her remaining friends. "Go!" Trevor ordered and she flew away

In the meantime, Dracula and Adrian were fighting in the library. They both dealt heavy blows to each other as they flew in the air. At the same time, Lucy was flying through the halls at breakneck speed, before suddenly letting out a cry and holding her face with her free hand. "Right in the fucking face?! Really?!" She shouted to no one in particular as she flew on. She arrived at the library, but they were already gone

They were in the room above it and Adrian grabbed a stake at seeing his father approaching him. "You mean to stake me?" Dracula asked after letting out a cold laugh. "You want me to." Adrian replied. "What?" Dracula asked with another scoff. "You didn't kill me before. You're not going to kill me now. You want this to end as much as I do." Adrian said, turning on his back to glare at him and barely managing to dodge the following kick. "Do I?!" Dracula hissed as Adrian got back on his feet and faced him again

"You died when my mother died. You know you did. This entire catastrophe has been nothing but history's longest suicide note." Adrian hissed at the older vampire as he attacked again and stabbed his father. "Not quite close enough." The still alive Dracula hissed, using his son's closeness to hit him again, pushing him through a wall. They fought on, pushing each other through several walls.

Each time Adrian was hit, Lucy immediately felt the pain as it were her own. She suddenly fell to the ground with a loud cry of pain as Dracula slammed the back of his son's head against the floor several times, before slowly forcing herself to get up from the ground again and continue on as her instinct inside her body screamed at her to get to her Mate and save him from whoever was hurting him, even if that person was his father. 

At the same time as she got up again, Adrian and Dracula had finally landed in an empty hallway after having fought each other in the completely broken down engine room. Adrian was lying on the ground, coughing heavily as he got weaker and weaker as the fight went on. He tried to think the pain he felt in his body away and his mind immediately went to the evenings around the campfire and more importantly, how the flames lit up Lucy's face and eyes as she tried so hard to comfort him about everything that had happened. 

He thought of the light in her eyes every time she laughed about something and how her laugh sounded He thought of her blue eyed that could be so incredibly soft and kind, but also harsh and cold when she faced those opposing her without fear. He thought of her as he tried to face his father, but was punched back. Dracula punched him through another wall and just before he hit it, Adrian felt two arms wrap around him

Crashing into the next room, Adrian looked up and immediately panicked at seeing an unconscious Lucy lying very close to the door, the fallen Archangel having taken the brunt of the final blow through the wall and having been knocked back to the front of the room by the force of it. "Lucy!" He called, but she didn't respond. Dracula followed him in, only to gasp as he realised where they were: Adrian's childhood bedroom.

"It's your room." He breathed. Both father and son looked up at the stars painted on the ceiling, the red disappearing from Dracula's eyes as he finally realised what he was doing and he lowered his head in guilt. "My boy. I'm...... I'm killing my boy." He whispered, before walking to a portrait of him, Lisa and baby Adrian that hung from the wall. "Lisa, I'm killing our boy. We painted this room. We... made these toys. It's our boy, Lisa." He continued, fully realising what he had planned to do and feeling horrified

Adrian slowly got up onto his feet and broke off a post off his childhood bed into a stake as Dracula hid his face in his hands in absolute shame and guilt. "Your greatest gift to me and I'm killing him." He said, before dropping his hands and looking at his son. "I must already be dead." He whispered as Lucy woke up and turned her head to look. Dracula lowered his head and gave his son a look, telling him to do it.

Lucy closed her eyes to give them the privacy they deserved, but that didn't stop her from hearing the sounds as Adrian did the one thing she could never do even at her absolute worst: killing his father. Dracula grunted in pain, blood slowly dripping from the wound, his eyes and his mouth. "Son." He grunted. "Father." Adrian replied with tears in his eyes, before driving the stake further into his father's heart. Lucy winced at the sound, keeping her eyes closed.

Peeking one eye open, she saw Dracula's skin turn black and fall away like it was made of ash until only his skeleton was left and it was still moving as it reached out to Adrian. That's when Trevor and Sypha ran into the room, the former going to stab Dracula from behind until Lucy stopped him by grabbing his arm. "Wait." She breathed as Dracula caressed his son's face for the last time. Lucy dropped her arm and Trevor ran forward, cutting off his head. Lucy slowly got up and went to Adrian, knowing that he shouldn't be alone.

"Alucard, Lucy, step back. Let me finish this" Sypha ordered. They listened as she burned his body. Dark smoke came free from the burning body, covering the room in darkness and flying out of the window in the form of many ghoulish faces crying out. Lucy instinctively wrapped her arms around Adrian and pulled him down on the ground, her wings wrapping around them to shield them both from the darkness. She could feel him shake

By the time the smoke was finally gone, the four remaining occupants of the room were all lying on the ground and slowly got up. Nothing was left of Dracula's body, only a hole in the carpet and a wedding ring lying on the ground. "Is that it?" Sypha asked with a painted grunt, holding her injured arm. "Alucard, did we.... do it?" Trevor asked as Lucy helped Adrian back up and he stared at the burned hole.

"I..... killed my father." He continued, his voice breaking. He barely felt a warmth around him as he still had trouble believing it. "You ended a war on humankind. Don't get weepy about it." Trevor said. "Trevor's right. You've saved countless lives, but it's alright to mourn the man too." Sypha said and Adrian sighed as he leaned into the warmth, which he only now realised was Lucy wrapping her arm and presumably her wings around him. "He died a long time ago." He said before they went back to the entrance hall. 

No one said a word as they walked down the stairs and looked around the mess. Lucy noticed Adrian's hand shaking and gently grabbed it to give him something to hold onto. He looked at her and she gave him a smile as Trevor and Sypha joined them as well and the latter grabbed Lucy's other hand. Together they walked out into the sunlight and watched the sun rise to begin a new day.Adrian glanced at Lucy as a breeze flew through her hair.

In what he had thought would've been his last moments, he had thought of her and everything he admired about her. Did that mean that he loved her? His heart fluttered at the thought, before sinking at remembering that she had said that she had found her Mate. She'd eventually leave him to find her Mate. He sighed and looked back out into the sunlight. They'd all leave one day and he wasn't sure if he was ready.

He would probably never be ready

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Read and review. See you next time


	15. The team splits

Disclaimer: I don't own anything that you recognise 

A few days after the battle, Adrian was briefly reading a book in the library, before putting it back on the shelf and looking down at the ruined transmission mirror. "We really messed up the old house, didn't we?" He asked Lucy as she appeared in the doorway, already having heard her coming. "We can always clean up?" She suggested in a sheepish voice and he simply gave her a stilted smile in reply as he went to walk out of the library.

She gently touched his arm and stopped him in his tracks. "Are you okay?" She asked quietly, looking up at him in concern. He had promised to let his emotions go after the battle if they survived, but he hadn't yet and she was worried about him. "I'm fine. Come on, let's go find Trevor and Sypha." He said coolly as he walked away, leaving her to watch him go for a second. "Did I say something wrong?" She muttered to herself, before running to catch up. He gave her a brief look, but didn't say anything as they walked on

"What do you think he's going to do now?" They heard the female Speaker ask as they entered the entrance hall. "I had a plan, you know." Adrian commented as they walked down the giant stairs framing the hall. "I was going back to Gresit.... return to my vault... go back to sleep." He continued, leading Helaine down to where Sypha and Trevor were standing. "But?" Trevor asked, wondering what changed his mind. 

"If I leave the castle here... all of his work is inside it. His libraries, his materials, his knowledge. What happens to all that if the structure is abandoned?" Adrian asked solemnly. If they were going to leave him, he might as well take everything down with him. Lucy looked down at the ground not having thought of it before, but the idea of someone with evil intent finding all of this and using it for their purposes was terrifying.

"I can't just leave it here. It'd be nothing but a grave to be robbed. So, let it be my grave." The Dhampir continued in a resigned voice. Lucy looked at him in surprise, shock and horror, absolutely not having expected him to say that. Trevor saw this look and came with another idea. "No." He said. He wasn't going to let his friend's Mate kill himself. "No?" Adrian asked in confusion, wondering what was going through his mind. "We can't move this thing. Sypha broke it." Trevor said. "I did not!" The Speaker immediately protested 

"You kinda did." Adrian agreed with Trevor. "I do not break things." Sypha insisted as she crossed her arms. "So, we all agree she broke it?" Trevor asked. "Oh, yes." Both Adrian and Lucy immediately chorused, before sharing a surprised look. Smirking at this, Trevor gestured dramatically to the outside where the Belmont hold was."Behold, you sulky, half vampire bastard. I officially bequeath you the Belmont hold." He said 

"Make of that and the castle your home. Not your grave. Be its last defender" He said with a smile, knowing that Lucy would likely stay with him and being completely alright with that. "You're giving me your home?" Adrian asked in shock. "It's yours. My childhood home and your childhood home. Protect it. Make something out of it. Something better than a pile of ruins and a symbol of terror." Trevor said and the Dhampir nodded.

"I'll help you." Lucy said with a smile, but he shook his head. "No, thank you. I'm sure you've got better places to be." He said, before walking away and leaving a very confused Lucy behind. "What's up with him?" Trevor asked. "I have no idea. He's been rather cool with me ever since the battle ended. Was it something I said?" The fallen Archangel asked. "I think so. You said you've found your Mate before the fight." Sypha said. "But that's him." Trevor protested. "Yes, but he doesn't know that, does he?" Sypha asked and Lucy facepalmed

She quickly went to find him after saying goodbye to Trevor and Sypha and eventually saw him standing in the kitchen. "Adrian? Can we talk?" She asked carefully. "Sure." He said in the same cool tone and she saw for what it was this time. He didn't want to get his hopes up, so he acted really cold to try and make her go away without feeling guilty. They sat down across each other, Adrian looking at the table

"Adrian, could you please look at me? I'm not talking to your hair." She said gently, sensing his reluctance to have this conversation and he slowly obeyed as he looked up at her. She immediately smiled at him, seeing the fear of what she'd say in his eyes. "I really want to help you, Adrian. No one should be alone, especially if they just had to kill the only family they had left on this earth." She told him and he scoffed.

"Shouldn't you be spending that time with your precious Mate?" He asked bitterly before he could stop himself. "Yes, I should." Lucy began to agree with him, before gulping and covering his hands with hers. "Which is exactly why I want to stay." She continued, hoping this would be enough for him to figure everything out. He frowned at her in confusion, before realisation hit him and his eyes immediately widened in shock. "I'm..... I'm your Mate?" He asked and she nodded with a warm smile. He was silent for a few minutes as he let this news sink in. 

"So, what happens now?" He asked. "That's all up to you. As I told in the hold, an angel can stay away from their mate if they wish it, so if you really want me to go, I'll leave and you'll never see me again." She promised. "No. Don't go, please." Adrian immediately replied and she smiled. "Alright, I won't go." She whispered, squeezing his hand. He finally smiled at her again as they sat there in the kitchen for a while. 

Trevor and Sypha were planning to leave the next day, so they had one final big meal that Lucy literally snapped up with her powers. "Oh, God. That's really good food." Trevor commented and Lucy immediately chuckled. "I assure you Trevor, God had nothing to do with this." She said and they all laughed and had fun, although Lucy noticed Adrian stil hadn't let himself go, although she sensed it wouldn't be long. 

The next day, Trevor and Sypha were leaving the castle to go on their own adventures. "Be good, Lucy." Trevor said as he hugged his oldest friend. "You too and be careful. I won't be there anymore to get your stubborn ass out of trouble." She replied and they both laughed. "You sure you'll be alright here?" He asked as they pulled back from each other. "Yeah, I think so. Who knows? This might become my first home since...... well..... forever." She commented and he smiled at her, before he went to load the wagon for the trip. 

She joined Adrian and Sypha and the other woman grabbed both their hands "Be well, my friends." She said sincerely. They both smiled at her as they were going to miss her and Trevor. "You too. Don't let that idiot get you into too much trouble." Adrian said as Trevor was putting two sacks into the back of the wagon. "I won't." Sypha promised, just as said couple of sacks fell on the other guy and they all laughed

"Well, maybe just enough trouble." Sypha amended with a chuckle, before Lucy surprised her with a sudden hug. She quickly smiled once her surprise was over and hugged her back tightly. "Good luck, Lucy." She whispered. "You too. Don't forget us and come and visit sometime." Lucy replied. "I promise." She said as she pulled back and Lucy smiled as Sypha climbed onto the wagon with Adrian's help, Trevor already sitting there.

Trevor looked past her at the Dhampir and the Archangel. It would be weird not to have Lucy around anymore after five years, but he had a feeling it was for the best this way. She had her Mate and he somehow knew they'd be alright as long as they had each other. He gave them a genuine smile and waved at them. Lucy happily waved back. Adrian.... flipped him off and Lucy immediately burst out into laughter. "Fuck you. "Trevor muttered as Sypha put the wagon into motion and they left, Trevor giving them a final wave

Looking sideways at her Mate, Lucy noticed that he was so close to letting go. He just needed the final push to finally let everything go and cry. "If you need me, I'll be down in the hold to try and assess the damage." She said and he nodded as she flew up and away, diving into the hole. As soon as she was gone, his face fell as he turned around and walked back towards the castle. He failed to notice Lucy peeping out of the hole

Walking inside and up the first staircase, Adrian had a vision of his father walking down the stairs and looking at him, before looking down and disappearing. "Is this how the castle felt to you? Before my mother arrived?" He asked to no one in particular as he went further up the stairs towards his father's study where the fight began. He didn't see the sunlight shining on red hair as Lucy peeked inside from the front doors

Putting a painting of his mother upright and doing the same thing to his father's chair, he sat down in it and was immediately assaulted by visions of him as a child playing with his mother. As soon as the visions disappeared, he broke down and started to cry as he finally let everything go. The death of his mother, his two fights with his father and the fact he had to kill the latter. He couldn't save his mother and now, he had lost both of them. One by his own hand. ' _I'm a murderer. I'm a murderer. I'm a murderer.'_ His thoughts screamed at him

A gentle hand on his shoulder made him quickly snap his head up to see Lucy giving him a tiny, sympathetic smile. "Let it go, Adrian. Let it go." She told him, before letting out a grunt as he suddenly pulled her onto his lap and held her tightly as he cried. Once the surprise was over, she smiled and hugged him back, rubbing his back to comfort him. "It's alright. Let it out." She whispered. They sat there for a long time

The next morning, Lucy woke up in Adrian's bedroom with her arms wrapped around her Mate. Her new room was next to his and she had heard him having a nightmare. She had woken him up and calmed him down. When she had stood up to leave, he had grabbed her arm, asking her to stay. She had agreed and had held him as he fell asleep. Giving Adrian a gentle kiss on the cheek, she carefully let him go and tiptoed out of the room.

Walking through the castle, she listened and didn't hear anything. She arrived at the entrance hall and pulled a face at seeing the blood soaked in the carpet, before going to walk outside. Standing on the plateau, she closed her eyes and enjoyed the early morning sun, before opening them and looking sideways. A man was standing there on the plateau. There was nothing particular about Him as He stood there and smiled at Lucy, but she knew who it was and smiled back. Her smile grew as three others appeared behind Him.

Michael gave her a tiny smile and nod, reluctantly conceding that he had been wrong. Raphael solemnly nodded at her and Gabriel beamed at her. Lucy smiled at her family, before she heard Adrian's voice calling her. "Lucy?! Where are you?!" He asked and her family disappeared. "There you are. What are you doing?" Adrian asked as he joined her. "Nothing much. Just enjoying the sun." She replied, before remembering something.

"That reminds me. Close your eyes." She said and he immediately did. He felt her touch his forehead and felt warmth spread through him. "Alright, look." She said. He opened his eyes and stared at the magnificent red wings shining in the sun behind Lucy. "What do you think?" She asked as he carefully touched the feathers. He looked at her and said one word that they both knew didn't describe just the wings 

"Beautiful."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that's the end of season two, everyone! 
> 
> Next chapter is going to be a filler chapter, before we go into season three
> 
> Read and review. See you next time


	16. Growing close

Disclaimer: I don't own anything that you recognise 

"Adrian?! Adrian, where are you?!"

Lucy was walking through the halls of Dracula's Castle after waking up all alone. It had been several weeks since Dracula's defeat and death by their hands and she hadn't slept in her own bed for a full night as her Mate still had nightmares. Now, Adrian waking up before she did wasn't anything new, but he usually stayed in bed until she was awake as well so they could go eat breakfast together 

Waking up all alone in a very cold bed had been quite a surprise and he wasn't in any of the usual rooms. "I swear: if he's locked himself in a room again to avoid me, I'll be so pissed." She muttered to herself as she started to fly instead to get through the many halls of the castle sooner. "Disadvantage of having a Mate who knows his way better than you do: he can hide himself anywhere." She continued to mumble as she opened doors and closed them again at not seeing Adrian in the rooms behind said doors. 

She then looked in the half-empty wine cellar, once actually having found Adrian half drunk in the middle of the night there after a particularly bad nightmare, but he wasn't there either. She sighed deeply. "Okay. I'm really getting worried now. He can't have gone that far, can he? At least not far from the castle." She muttered to absolutely no one as she went on, not noticing the tiny flutter of wings following her

Looking in the library, she still found nothing. "Come on, Adrian. At least give me a sign where you are." She said in concern as she turned around to continue the search for her Mate, only to stare at what was in front of her. A very tiny white bat was furiously batting its wings in front of her. "Why hello, little guy." She said as she held out her hands The bat landed on her palms, immediately lying down as its tiny paws weren't made to stand on flat "ground."

She smiled at it. "Awwww. Aren't you the cutest little fussball I've ever seen in my entire life." She quickly cooed over it as she started to walk again and the tiny bat let out a small sound. "Yeah, you are. I don't suppose you've seen my Mate anywhere." She said. The bat didn't react, apart from its tiny body shaking. Lucy stroked his head with her finger to calm it down. "Didn't think so." She muttered, before sighing at hearing her stomach rumble."Well, I guess that's just his bad luck then. I'm hungry." She said as she went to the kitchen with the bat.

Getting there with the bat after several minutes of walking and getting lost in the many hallways more than a couple of times, she immediately snapped her fingers. A small breakfast of fruit and meat appeared on table. She and Adrian usually went to get the ingredients themselves but she had spent so much time looking for her Mate that she was too hungry to do that now.

After defeating Dracula, her Father had actually given her some of her old powers back again. Not as much as she once used to have when she still lived up in heaven with her siblings, but still. "You like fruit?" She gently asked her tiny companion, who was still with her for some strange reason as she took a ripe berry and carefully gave it to the tiny creature sitting on the table.

As the bat quickly ate it whole, proving to her it did eat fruit and she ate her own dinner, her eyes instinctively looked at the chair across from her where Adrian usually sat. She really hoped he was just reading books in the Belmont hold or something and she was simply overreacting. She sighed again as worry flooded her body again. She flinched back slightly when the little bat suddenly flew up in her sight to get her attention. "Oh, is someone feeling left out?" She asked with a smile as she looked into the bat's golden eyes. _Wait a fucking minute...._

"Adrian?" She asked incredulously with a raised eyebrow and the bat immediately flew up into the air to change back into her grinning Mate. "You asshole! I was worried sick!" She said as she hit him on the shoulder, making sure it wouldn't hurt too much as it would hurt her as well. Adrian chuckled in answer. "I noticed. I was following you the whole time." He noted and she scowled at him

"It's not funny, Adrian. I was genuinely worried." She muttered and Adrian's grin turned into a warm smile. "I know, Lucy. Thank you." He said at seeing she was slightly upset, kissing her temple. Even though they both knew what they were to each other now, they had decided to take it slow and see where they would go from here on out. This was new for the both of them and they wanted to see what would happen over time as they went along.

There was also the fact that Adrian was a still a teenager and Lucy was as old as the universe, so they had to see how that would go. She sighed as she leaned into his touch, letting herself be comforted. Breaking apart Adrian looked down at the food. "Can I have some more of that." He asked as he sat down next to her and she put some fruit on her fork, feeding him with a grin. "Fair warning that I'm gonna call you my "cute little fussball" from now on." She said and he glared at her. She smirked in answer as she put more food on her fork.

A few days after that, the tables were completely turned on the two and it was Adrian who couldn't find Lucy this time. He had already checked the entirety of the enormous Belmont Hold and the first floor of the castle, but she wasn't in either of those places so he went on. He flew through the halls of the castle, sincerely hoping that this wasn't her revenge for his bat prank.

He had wanted to see how she'd react, but had quickly realised that she was incredibly worried about him and didn't think it as funny as he had thought she would, so he had revealed himself to her to make sure she'd stop worrying. He flew past a room, only to stop and go back. Lucy was standing there in the one room he hadn't wanted to visit again: his childhood bedroom. 

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to get in here. I was following and cleaning up most your trail from the final fight and I eventually ended here." She immediately apologised as she looked at the family portrait at the wall, having heard him approach and he smiled as he slowly walked in. Both happy and sad memories assaulted him. Memories of his parents tucking him into bed, but also of what he had done here. He stubbornly refused to look at the hole in the carpet where his father's wedding ring was still lying on the ground

Feeling someone gently grab his hand, he was immediately snapped out of his thoughts to see Lucy looking up at him in worry. "We can always leave this room if you don't want to be here." She whispered and he took a deep breath. "I can't avoid this forever." He replied. "No, but you don't have to do it now." She immediately said and he smiled at her, kissing her forehead 

"Might as well get it over with." He muttered as he carefully took a few more steps into the room, holding a death grip on Lucy's hand. "Who made these toys? Dracula?" Lucy asked as she looked at the toys spread around. He looked at her in confusion, before realising she had probably still been unconscious when his father had talked about that, so he silently nodded in answer

"Wow. I'm so impressed. You honestly need to catch up when or if we ever start courting." She joked feebly, gently nudging his side and he simply gave her a tiny smile in answer, but didn't say anything in return just yet. "You know, I have to say your drawing skills have improved." She then said, picking up a stick figure drawing of what she assumed was Dracula. He chuckled dryly, before looking up at the family portrait. At seeing what he was looking at, Lucy did the same and stood closer so their arms and sides were touching.

"My mother used to say that I wouldn't sit still for this and just kept moving." He said wistfully. He missed his mother so much and Lucy noticed this. "Well, I think you looked _adorable_ as a baby." She commented with a small smile at seeing little baby Adrian holding a lock of his mother's hair with a smile on his face. The Dracula on the portrait looked nothing like the monster they had fought

She mentally cursed the Bishop once again for ripping this happy family apart in his own stupid beliefs. "Thanks." Adrian muttered to her previous words, snapping her out of her thoughts and she chuckled, before leaning against him. "You're not alone, love and you never will be." She promised and he smiled at her, before leading her out and leaving the room forever 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Small filler chapter, but I didn't know where else to put these two ideas. We'll go to season three next
> 
> Adrian's bat form was based on this fan art
> 
> https://nl.pinterest.com/pin/726979564846333294/
> 
> Read and review. See you next time


	17. Domestic life

Disclaimer: I don't own anything that you recognise 

If anyone would have walked in the forest surrounding Dracula's castle very late in the afternoon one winter day, they would've seen a very peculiar sight: a young Dhampir and an ancient Archangel walking hand-in-hand as they went to collect their dinner. The sun was shining very low in the sky as it slowly went down, but it still shone brightly on Adrian's golden hair as well as his golden eyes and Lucy's blue ones.

The former devil took a very deep breath as she went to walk a just tiny bit closer to her Mate, their sides now touching as she felt incredibly content with her life right now. She had to admit that it was nice to actually have a permanent roof over her head and to live with someone who she was growing closer to every day. Her wings rippled in happiness as well as she soaked up the last sun rays of the day

She did miss travelling with Trevor at times and his humour when he wasn't drunk, but this was incredibly nice as well. She sighed again, before focusing on what they were doing. This was their little ritual whenever they went to get their food for breakfast and dinner. They would work together to gather the ingredients and then cook together as well. They were thinking of eating fish this evening. Adrian would catch the fish because last time she tried, she over balanced and fell into the water with a squawk and a very loud splash.

It had taken Adrian five minutes to stop laughing even a little bit as she had come up again sputtering with a lilly pad on her head. Little did he know that it hadn't been an accident as he had been incredibly morose and sad that day and the splash was a last-ditch attempt by Lucy to make him laugh. Much to her relief and joy, it had worked incredibly and she had hidden her satisfied smile behind a conjured up blanket

Adrian went to kneel down next to the small creek that ran through the grounds surrounding the castle and the Belmont hold while Lucy went to get some other ingredients. He quickly managed to catch two fish, killing them by harshly hitting them and breaking their necks. With the fish caught, he stood up and enjoyed the breeze flying through his hair, before he went looking for Lucy as she had a habit of hiding from him in the woods. 

He was still completely certain that it was revenge for his bat prank several weeks back, but he wouldn't change it for the world. Lucy kept him entertained and sane by keeping him company, engaging him into several different conversations about many topics and stories about what she'd been through. Granted, some of them weren't that happy as she had been in hell for a long time, but she had also spent a lot of time around humans as well and had plenty of really funny stories to tell about that part of her life 

Adrian himself preferred the story about how she helped two witches and two wizards create a school for good witches and wizards in some place very far away from here. "Lucy!? Where are you?" He called after a few seconds "Up here, Fuzzball." He heard from above and after briefly closing his eyes in exasperation at her still using that nickname after several weeks, he looked up and saw her standing on a branch.

"What are you doing up there?!" He called and she smiled. "I'll tell you in a second. One moment." She replied as she finished whatever she was doing up there and climbed down. "There was a tiny bird that had fallen out of its nest. I put it back." She continued with a smile and he smiled back. "Good job." He said and she immediately beamed at him. "Now, come on. I'm hungry." He then continued, grabbing her hand and pulling her along.

They finally got the rest of the ingredients and went back inside with their stomachs rumbling loudly. "Adrian, we're supposed to clean up the castle, not make a bigger mess." Lucy complained just a few minutes later as they arrived in the half-empty wine cellar and her Mate chucked several broken and empty bottles away, making them break even more and spread glass around the floor. "Sorry, love." He replied as he got a still filled bottle and led them to the kitchen. They prepared the food together and finally sat down. 

"Uh, this is so good." Lucy murmured as she ate. "You should know. You helped make it." Adrian chuckled. "All I did was cut the vegetables and put the garlic in the oven." She scoffed and he laughed. Last time she had tried to cook, she had almost put the kitchen on fire and considering she could control fire, that was saying a lot. "It's probably for the best that you stay on cutting duty." He commented. "You think?" She asked sarcastically.

He chuckled again, before looking at two dolls Lucy had made as a small joke when he mentioned missing verbally sparring with Sypha and even Trevor. "What do you think, Trevor?" He asked, before doing an almost perfect impression of Trevor's voice. "I think I hate everything and everybody, so I'm gonna get drunk on beer that's been brewed in an old sheep carcass." He started and Lucy facepalmed as she shook her head

Then, I'm going to stick my tiny penis in a dead dog that I found in a ditch to make hate-babies or something, because I actually am more stupid than mud." Adrian continued and Lucy hit him on the arm, immediately rubbing hers afterwards. He just smirked at her, before continuing on and imitating Sypha this time. "You are a horrible, terrible person and many other words for horrible and terrible, because I know all the words, because I'm smarter than anybody." He started, easily dodging Lucy's attempts to shut him up. 

"And one day, I will go back to live with my flea-bitten family in a cart, which makes me better than anyone and you will all die in a fire. A big one." He finished, dropping the accent at the end as Lucy gave up and just leaned against his shoulders and back from behind. "When I made those dolls for you, I didn't mean for you to make fun of our friends like this. If I didn't know any better, I'd say you were losing your mind." She said 

He immediately grabbed her wrist, turning her hand and gently kissing her palm. "I think that if you weren't here with me, I would be losing my mind." He confessed. "It's only been a month or two." She replied and he nodded. "I know." He muttered and she gave him a tiny smile, before truly hugging him from behind. He tightly held her arms and turned his head to nuzzle her cheek, making her laugh before they went back to eat

The very next day Adrian went down the Belmont hold after being completely unable to find Lucy in the castle for a while. Despite neither of them really needing it for rather obvious reasons, they had built a wooden lift down the now permanently damaged and open entrance of the vault. Adrian actually preferred taking the lift to floating down by himself or with Lucy as it gave him time to think about what to read once he was in the hold. Arriving at the lowest level and walking in, he quickly looked around the seemingly empty hold

He wondered how many Belmonts had studied in this hold and if it had ever been completely full, rather than the empty and silent vault it was now. "Lucy?!" He called as he started to walk around. No answer came. "Oh, very funny, love. This is your revenge, huh?" He muttered to himself as he looked around. He understood it now. She had simply waited for the perfect time to really get him back for the bat prank

He walked past the several angel statues, before stopping and looking at them. He had looked at them briefly before, but Lucy's warning about killing angel statues had rather made him want to stay far away from them. He looked at the statues as he walked past, before focusing on one. It was a statue of an angel woman who was reaching up to the sky with a loving expression He stared at it, before seeing something and smirking.

"Are you coming? Lunch is ready" He said and the statue moved its eyes to glower at him. "You're no fun." Lucy said as she cancelled the spell to make her look like a statue. He gave her a grin as he kissed her knuckles. "How did you know?" She asked. "Your wings ripple when you're excited and I guess you were excited about pranking me, because they were rippling like crazy." He answered and she glared at her wings. "Traitors." She muttered. He chuckled in answer as he used their entwined hands to pull her back to the entrance.

Letting the lift go up on its own, they flew up themselves. Adrian smiled at Lucy and she smiled back as she gently squeezed his hand in answer. They finally landed back on ground level and simply enjoyed the nice sun for a minute. "I really love the hold, but it gets so damp after a while." Lucy commented and he agreed as they finally went back to the castle. As they walked back, Adrian glanced at the literal angel walking next to him.

At times, he was still unable to believe she was destined to be his. She was his only light in the darkness, rather ironic when he remembered what her true name meant. She was his rock and he was hers He didn't know what he'd do without her. She saw him looking and smiled at him, kissing his cheek. They were already very close and they were going to need it as soon, two "visitors" would test that closeness

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't want to write Taka and Sumi yet, so here's another fluffy chapter that takes place in the very beginning of season 3
> 
> Read and review. See you next time


	18. Lindenfeld

Disclaimer: I don't own anything that you recognise 

Far away from Dracula's castle, a familiar wagon was slowly riding through a thick forest, two even more familiar figures sitting on it as they rode on in search for something. "I think it might be a nice night for once." The woman commented as she looked at the darkening sky, a foreign accent incredibly clear in her voice. "I hope so. Your feet get so bloody cold at night." Her companion replied in a surly tone

"Don't they though? Was Lucy that bad?" She asked with a chuckle. "Lucy's body is warmed by the fire she controls. I don't think Adrian will have much to complain. Still, it's supernatural. Like death, rubbing up-and-down my leg." He replied, making sure to talk loudly as they still looked around the forest. "Even I don't want to be near them and they're attached to me. Do you think we'll make the next town before we lose the last of the light?" She asked. "With a bit of luck. If this doesn't take too long." He replied. "Do we need to make more noise?" She asked.

"No. They can hear us." He answered and she sighed deeply, feeling slightly impatient right now. "They need to hurry up. I'm hungry." She complained. Eventually hearing something in the bushes they quickly got ready. Four different night creatures slowly appeared from the forest, two of them actually being pink and green, which was pretty funny to see after only seeing black and grey night creatures. 

"Oh, no! Night creatures! Whatever shall I do, out here alone in the forest with only my brain-damaged servant who talks of nothing but beer? I'm certainly doomed!" She said exaggeratedly and he facepalmed"Oh, God. Not this again. At least, Lucy was just stab, stab and done." He muttered. "Doomed, I say! I'm defenseless and frozen to my seat with fear" His companion continued. "Laying it on a little thick, aren't you, Sypha?" He asked.

"It's always easier when we let them get in range." She replied, before she counted the four creatures in front of them and behind the wagon. "Poor beasties." She muttered, before jumping into the sky. Having seen Lucy fly often enough, she had taught herself to fly as well using her fire powers. She sent two jets of fire towards the pink and green monsters in front of them, already setting them on fire. The pink one tried to attack her as she landed, but she dodged every hit as the green one ran into the forest

Eventually getting a clear shot on it, Sypha quickly burned the pink monster's head off and then went to find the green one. She quickly found it and used her ice powers to create a pathway above it, jumping down and spearing it with an ice spear. With a wave of her hand, the ice platforms ste had used melted into water and doused the flames the green night creature had left behind on its way to flee

While Sypha took care of the pink and green monsters, Trevor quickly fought the two remaining ones. He quickly killed a stag like monster with the Morningstar whip, but the wolf like monster gave him more trouble as it knocked the whip away, forcing him to use his bare hands. He tried to knee it between the legs, but it worked just as well as it had with Adrian as it grabbed him by the face and lifted him up

"What if I said I was sorry?" He asked behind its paw, before getting thrown away by it. He fought on again and finally managed to win by pushing its head back so far that its neck snapped. Breathing heavily, he heard Sypha's voice. "Sorry it took so long. Couldn't let the forest catch fire." She spoke up, not knowing that it had taken him even longer. "It's alright. I wasn't waiting long, really." He replied as he stood up straight again. "That was pretty fast though, right?" Sypha asked with a smile. "Yeah, easy." He muttered 

"They weren't expecting Belnades and Belmont!" She crowed proudly as Trevor started to drag the very heavy body of the wolf creature back to the wagon. "I've been promoted from "brain-damaged servant" then?" He asked teasingly as she went to help him. They kept teasing each other as they arrived back at the wagon and Trevor honestly found that he liked it even more than bantering with Lucy

There was just this subtle difference between how he and Lucy had interacted when they had travelled together to how he and Sypha bantered right now. He couldn't explain it, apart from the different kind of relationship he had with the two women, but he was sure the Archangel wouldn't mind. "What are you doing?" She asked as he grabbed some rope to tie the creature to the back of the wagon.

"Buying some insurance. Between the wandering packs of night creatures and the brigands and the opportunistic criminals and that one guy with the horse-drawn sailboat on wheels that called himself "the pirate of the roads."" He started to say and Sypha quickly picked up his train of thought. "It's best to look like useful friends when we arrive in the next town." She continued and he immediately smiled at her. You're catching on." He commented. Tying the body of the creature behind the wagon, they rode on

Arriving in the next town, they got quite a bit of attention as they arrived quite late with a dead night creature behind them. One man, whose name was Saint Germain, muttered that he hoped it wasn't the guy with the sailboat on wheels again. Stopping in the middle of the square, Trevor got off the wagon. "So, had you been having problems with a night creature pack outside of your lovely town?" He asked

"If you mean "were terrible naked bastards from hell trying to eat people in the forest," then yes." A bald man dressed in black said. "So had the village down the road. They told us the pack had been hitting travellers and transports. My partner and I decided to take care of that for you. Where are we?" Trevor asked as he looked around. "This is Lindenfeld." The man told him, gesturing to the quaint village around them

"The minster town." Sypha commented excitedly as she jumped off the wagon too and joined them. "The spire we saw from the road belongs to the priory, yes?" She asked, the man quickly recognising her as a Speaker. "Oh! You're a Speaker. We haven't seen any of your people in some while. It's a genuine honour. I'm the Judge of Lindenfeld." The man or Judge said. Sypha quietly explained that it was another term for landlord of a town, despite the Judge clearly hearing them. "What's your name?" Trevor asked then

"I'm simply the Judge. And you are?" The Judge asked in return. "Wait a minute." Trevor muttered before Sypha could answer the question as a group of men pushed past the onlookers and came closer to them. "Those are the monks of the priory. Take care. They're somewhat, Uh, broken." The Judge warned them. The leader of the group, who was named Prior Sala, asked what was happening here and noticing the night creature

He then asked if Trevor and Sypha killed it and they confirmed it. Sala then said they deserved it for betraying Dracula and Trevor and Sypha shared a look. "Betrayed him?" Sypha asked. "Dracula's dead. Didn't you hear?" Sala asked in return. "We did not. How do you know this?" Sypha asked before Trevor could answer. "Information still gets carried between ministers." Sala commented, talking about how the castle was likely dragged to hell. 

"I would really like to know who killed him, Speaker." He then said. Trevor and Sypha refused to look at each other, knowing very well who killed him. "Why?" Sypha asked suspiciously. If this man was a threat to Adrian, then she'd keep that secret. Besides, Lucy would kill the guy if he so much as looked at her Mate wrong. "So my men can punish those responsible." Saira answered and both Trevor and Sypha immediately agreed without looking at each other not to speak a word about Adrian or Lucy as long as they were in that town. 

"Dracula sought to reunite us in hell with his beloved wife." Sala continued. "Okay, then. Nice to meet you." Trevor said, realising this guy was incredibly crazy. "There was a Speaker woman in Gresit. What are your names?" Sala then asked. "There are Speakers everywhere. They would only have given aid and comfort to those harmed by Dracula's hordes." Sypha quickly defended herself, despite knowing she was that woman

The Judge sent the monks away at that, sensing that the tension was building and Sala walked away. "What the hell was that?" Trevor asked. "We suffered an attack during the recent troubles. It was a difficult night in the priory. Honestly though, when it was learned that the actions of the church were what unleased it all, I think it just send prior Sala and his people quite mad. "The Judge told them

"Oh dear. What a shame. Never mind." Trevor muttered and Sypha immediately glared at him. "He's been taking refugees of a similar turn of mind. It's a problem, mister..." The Judge said, trailing off at the end as he still didn't know their names. "I'm Trevor and this is Sypha." Trevor introduced them. "No last names?" The Judge asked. "Not until I feel a little safer here." Trevor muttered, remembering the indirect threats to Lucy and Adrian and the other man conceded, shaking their hand and walking away. 

A man offered three coins for each tooth of the monster. Trevor quickly agreed on the condition that the guy got them out himself. Sypha harshly pulled him aside. "Trevor, that is wrong!" She protested, neither of them noticing the man trying and quite hilariously failing to get the teeth out. Trevor convinced money for food and a place to sleep. She admitted sue hasn't thought of that, before he noticed a stall of beer. 

"Could I get a mug. I'll have some coins in a minute." He said to the guy running the stall. "You killed that bastard thing. You get one free." The man promised graciously. "I love you." Trevor breathed gratefully as a big mug of beer was set down in front of him. Taking a big sip from it, Trevor groaned in happiness. "That is better than sex." He muttered, not noticing Sypha standing right behind him.

That is until she furiously used her powers to freeze his beer and made it fall to the ground in an orange mess. "Better than sex?" She scoffed, feeling insulted as she walked away from him. Trevor immediately followed her, trying to make up for his mistake as he realised she had heard everything. "Not better, but.... different. Differently good." He tried. "Really? I do hope you sleep well tonight, with my tiny icy feet shoved all the way up your...." Sypha growled, before someone bumped into her and cut her off

"Oh, God. I'm so sorry. I wasn't looking where I was going." The woman immediately apologised as she quickly helped the fallen Speaker up. "That's alright. Not your fault" Sypha muttered to her, before walking away as she was still angry with Trevor. "Okay. I've seen that look countless times on other women. "What did you do?" The woman then asked Trevor, crossing her arms and raising an eyebrow at him

"I may have said beer was better than sex." He muttered sheepishly and she shook her head in answer. "Unbelievable. Well, good luck, Trevor." She said, patting his shoulder and walking away from him. "Thanks. Wait..." Trevor said at realising she knew his name, but she was already gone. He smirked and shook his head at realising the truth. "Way to greet your old friends, Lucy." He muttered, before walking after Sypha.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Between Taka and Sumi and the Judge, I don't know who I hate more........ nah, definitely Taka and Sumi.
> 
> Read and review. See you next time


	19. Two new arrivals

Disclaimer: I don't own anything that you recognise 

"Were they alright?"

"They were fine. They're in lindenfeld now and met a judge who sounds like this really snobbish wizard I met a long time ago." Lucy answered her Mate after checking up on Trevor and Sypha. She had put a small spell on them so she'd know if they were in trouble. Trevor's spell had warmed up during his fight and she had gone to see if they needed help, but they hadn't. Adrian sighed in relief

"Don't fall in" He then warned her and she groaned. "Why do you constantly have to remind me i fell into the water?" She complained as they kneeled next to the stream to get some water. "Because you keep using that ridiculous nickname." He answered and she made a face at him. He, very maturely, stuck out his tongue. It looked even funnier with him because his tongue was a bit squished because of his fangs 

Lucy's six red wings were shining in the sun and Adrian honestly couldn't get enough of the incredibly impressive sight they always made. She had explained that they were very sensitive as well and not to touch them for now. Apparently, touching an angel's wings for more than just a few seconds was something that was saved after they Bonded. Lucy called her smallest pair of wings which were attached at the lower back her "outside G-spot," making him blush heavily and realise exactly how sensitive they were. 

They both stiffened up at hearing some twigs snap not too far off, too heavy to be an animal. Adrian carefully grabbed Lucy's hand and squeezed twice. Talking only in small gestures, they concluded that there were two humans coming, one with a bow and arrow and that Adrian would go after the one approaching them and Lucy after the one with the bow. 

Pretending to fill a second bucket with water, Lucy took a deep breath. "Three, two, one. Go!" She whispered as she pulled the bucket up again, before she and Adrian shot off into the forest. Having six wings was incredibly handy if you had to be fast and before the guy could see her coming, she had already tackled him to the ground and held a dagger to his throat 

"Hiya, handsome." She greeted the man with a dangerous smile that she had learned from her days as Satan and ruling hell. It always sent the dammed souls screaming without fail as they knew pain would follow. He immediately pleaded for his life and she simply raised an eyebrow at him. One thing that she could still do, despite her banishment from heaven, was seeing the colour of people's souls. Newborn babies and truly good people had souls as white as snow, while people like the Bishop had souls as black as night

The man's soul wasn't white, but it wasn't black either. It was a dark grey, bordering on getting darker. She didn't like it, but she wasn't sure what to do. She wasn't a "kill first, ask questions later" kind of person or Archangel anymore, so she decided to discuss it with Adrian. She got up and grabbed the guy by the back of his clothes, dragging him backwards to her Mate

In the meantime, Adrian had tackled the man's companion, a rather pretty woman. She started to plead as well as Adrian let his nails grow into claws. "We will not be hunted." He hissed. He didn't know what they were doing here or what they wanted, but he wasn't taking any chances "We're not hunting either of you. You are the Alucard and his witch." She said, surprising him.

"The what and my what?" He asked in confusion. "We really need both your help." She insisted, not answering him. "With an arrow in our back?" He scoffed as he gestured behind them, knowing that Lucy had already taken care of the guy with the bow and arrows, but not knowing if he was still alive. "He was going to cover me. I was going out to talk to you both." She said. "Really?" He asked, still not believing a word that came out of her mouth. "We have come a long way. Please. I need to know if he's alright." She begged.

"That honestly all depends on the mood of my companion. Although, from what I can hear, he's still alive." He commented as he heard Lucy come closer to where they were. "Yeah, he's alive. Probably cracked at least some of his ribs, but his heart is still beating." Lucy immediately replied as she arrived as well, still dragging the guy over the ground by the back of his clothing.

"Please leave her alone. You are the Alucard and his witch and we do need your help." He insisted despite the pain in his chest. Lucy gave her Mate a slightly confused look at hearing this. Once again speaking silently, Adrian told her that he didn't know why they were calling her a witch and she decided to let them believe that for now. "I'm not "the" anything." Adrian then said to distract them as he finally stood back up.

"Adrian Ţepeş. The Alucard. The anti-dracula. The woman continued. "Just Alucard." He insisted. Only his parents and Lucy allowed to call him by his given name and only the latter was still alive at the moment. When he had asked her why she had actually never called him "Alucard," she had shrugged and said that the name just didn't fit the boy she had met once and that feeling had grown when she had realised what he was to her. She didn't want to call her Mate such a darkly chosen name, no matter the circumstances.

Lucy let the guy go and he stood up as the woman ran towards him. "Who are you?" Lucy asked, crossing her arms and standing slightly in front of her Mate. Adrian barely suppressed a smirk. If you could see her wings, you'd see that the left ones were spread out in front of him protectively, only his head peeping out from above them so he could still see

"I'm Sumi and this is Taka. We hunt vampires." The woman, Sumi, finally told them. "Not you. Real vampires. The pursuit of our target became the pursuit of this castle and we only discovered yesterday that you both live in it when we saw you float out of the hole in the ground" Taka quickly added. ' _Well, that probably explains the "witch" comment.'_ Lucy thought

As the two humans in front of her wouldn't have been able to see her wings as Adrian was currently the only being on earth who actually could, they probably thought she had used magic to fly out of the hold. "We didn't notice you yesterday. You're better than I thought." Adrian commented, both reluctantly impressed that they had somehow managed to not make either of them realise they were there and worried because of the exact same reason. "Who was your quarry?" Lucy asked, not trusting them in the slightest 

Sumi quickly told them it was one of Dracula's now dead generals named Cho as they had been slaves in her court. When she had left to join Dracula, they had escaped their prison and had tracked her to the castle. "I know the vampire you're talking about. She was killed months ago." Lucy commented with a raised eyebrow, not really understanding why they needed their help with a dead vampire.

"Yes, but she's not the only vampire in Japan. We need more knowledge than we have to fight them." Sumi quickly explained as she and Taka held hands."We were looking for the castle. We had no idea how to find you. Ignoring for the moment the fact that I think you smashed all my ribs, this is a good day for us." Taka said, still wincing in pain from Lucy's tackle.

Lucy gave him a smug smirk at that, incredibly proud of herself, before Adrian subtly touched her lower back with his hand. She folded her wings for a moment so he could come and stand next to her without looking really weird to the humans by walking around the invisible wings. He then wrapped one arm around her and felt the wings stretch out behind him again. "Alucard, will you and your companion teach us?" Sumi asked, talking about how they were alone and Adrian looked at Lucy for the final decision about this. 

She sighed deeply, before giving them a very dark and warning look. "I will be very clear with you. I will give you _one_ chance to prove yourselves. One chance to prove you really want to learn from us. If I catch one whiff of you planning to harm us or to use our knowledge for evil. I'll make hell look like church, understood?" She asked and they paled as they nodded.

Walking back to the castle, Adrian asked if either of them knew where they currently were. "Not really. That is Dracula's castle." Taka said, pointing at the castle. "Ten points to gryffindor." Lucy muttered sarcastically. Adrian turned around to the humans with a smirk. That's _our_ castle." He replied, looking at Lucy with a warm smile, before sobering up and looking at the castle.

"My father's dead." He continued and she grabbed his hand to try and comfort him."Dracula's dead?" Sumi asked in shock. "Yes. By my hand. And the hand of a Speaker and the hands of Lucy and her friend Trevor Belmont. Under our feet is the Belmont Hold, holding all their knowledge. There's our castle, containing my father's knowledge and up here is my knowledge." Adrian answered, pointing at his own head. He then told them he wasn't going to teach them if they'd give up and they promised that they wouldn't

"What do you think?" Adrian later asked Lucy once they were alone. "I don't trust them. Their souls are dark grey. It can be worse, but it can be better too." She answered. "Well, then we do exactly what you said. We'll give them one chance to prove themselves and if they fail, you can attack them." He replied and she nodded, before hugging him. They stood there for a while, before separating again and going to make dinner. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lucy's comment about the judge sounding like a snobbish wizard is because he's voiced by Jason Isaacs who plays Lucius Malfoy 
> 
> Read and review. See you next time


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